
; OCTST-FM 







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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 
cKpL^oJyright No.- 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



DfC 3 



1898 




FOLLOH ME. — Matth. 9, 9. 



HIS EOOTSTEPS 



Studies for Edification from the Life 
of Christ 



REV. R. C. H. L'ENSKI, A. M. 



"For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also 
suffered for us, leaving us for an example, that ye should 
follow His steps." — 1 Peter 2, 21. 




. Columbus Ohio 
Lutheran [book Concern 

[?>9?> 

L. 



2>W 






Copyright, I 
By Rev. K C H. Lenski. 








CONTENTS 



•CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Firstborn Among Many Brethren . . 1 

II. The Child Grew— Jesus Increased .... 12 

III. He Came Eating and Drinking 26 

IV. Not Where to Lay His Head 42 

V. Meek and Lowly in Heart 52 

VI. While it is Day 65 

VII. Thy Will, Not Mine 76 

VIII. Behold He Prayeth " . 89 

IX. Mine Hour 100 

X. It is Written 114 

XI. In All Points Tempted 130 

XII. Behold the Lilies of the Field 147 

XIII. As Christ Loved the Church 160 

XIV. He Took Them Up In His Arms 175 

XV. The Things That Are Cesar's . 185 

XVI. The Fulness of Him that Filleth All in All 202 

XVII. Whom Jesus Loved 219 

XVIII. Have I Been So Long Time With You ? . . 229 

XIX. Moved With Compassion 244 

XX. If I Have Told You the Truth 254 

XXI. The Commandments of Men 272 

XXII. Why Are Ye Fearful? 289 

XXIII. Tell No Man 305 

XXIV. Father, Forgive Them . . . .- 318 

XXV. He Giveth His Life 335 

XXVI. Into Thy Hands 350 



HIS POOTSTEPS 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN. 

IN the footsteps of Christ, the Firstborn, we, His 
brethren, are to follow. 
There was a wonderful similarity between God 
and man as first created, for man was made after 
the similitude and in the image of God. By creation 
God gave to man qualities similar to His own. 

Man is still to a certain extent like God in that he is 
a personal being, possessing consciousness, intellect, 
reason, and will. He is a spirit with the powers and 
faculties peculiar to spirit-beings. In this he differs 
from all animal creatures, rising far above them; in 
this he ranks with the angels, the blessed spirits created 
to dwell in the glory of heaven before the face of God. 
Yet it can not be said that this exalted position of man 
in the world of created beings constitutes the image 
and likeness of God as the Scriptures speak of it and 
describe it. For then man would still be like God, 
now that he has fallen into sin ; whereas the Scriptures 
tell us that the image of God has been lost by the fall. 
Man still has intellect, reason, consciousness, will, al- 
though impaired throughout by sin, nevertheless he 
is not like God. The devil too is a person with the 
same high faculties, and who would say that he pos- 
sesses the sacred image. No, there must be something 



2 His Footsteps. 

more in man to make him truly like unto God. He 
must in very truth possess attributes and qualities of 
soul similar to those of God Himself. 

Man's exalted position as a created spirit, man's 
intellect, reason, consciousness, and will, are only the 
basis for the Godlike qualities which were created in 
him. It is impossible for the animals to possess the 
divine image, the similitude of God's qualities and at- 
tributes; they were created without the spiritual facul- 
ties, in which alone these qualities can dwell, they stand 
on a lower plane, far beneath man. Only the angels 
and the spirit of man can possess likeness to God. But 
as they can possess God-likeness, so also they can be 
without it and lose it. And some are without it, some 
have lost it. The devils have lost it altogether and for- 
ever; and man too by the fall gave up his priceless 
treasure. 

Man was originally like God, according to the Scrip- 
tures, not merely in being a spirit, as God is a Spirit, 
He the creating Spirit, and man the created spirit; but 
in this that man's spirit possessed qualities similar to 
those of God who is a Spirit. As God was holy and 
sinless, so man was created holy and sinless; as God 
was righteous and true, so man was created righteous 
and true; as God was wise and good, so man was cre- 
ated wise and good. To be sure, these exalted attri- 
butes of God inhere in the essence of God, and are the 
fountain of all that is like them in the creatures of God; 
whereas these attributes in the creature do not subsist 
apart from the Creator, but are the work and creation 
of God, wrought in the creature for the Creator's glory. 
This difference is expressed by the Scriptures when 



The Firstborn Among Many Brethren. 8 

they say, man was created after the image of God. He 
was not another God, nor another person of the God- 
head. Man is not the image itself of God; the image 
itself of the Father is the Son. Man is made after the 
image of God, he is a creature possessing not the actual 
qualities of God Himself, but qualities like these; qual- 
ities coming indeed from God, but not as though they 
were poured out from the fulness of God into man; 
qualities produced and wrought in him by God in the 
act of creation, when God breathed His spirit into man, 
and thereby created the creature spirit which is man. 

From the very beginning God's intention with re- 
spect to man was that he should follow in the footsteps 
of his Creator, from whom his body, life, and spirit, to- 
gether with all his godlike qualities, had come. His 
holy intellect was meant to know the things of God and 
the mind of God; his holy reason was to think the 
tilings of God for the purposes of God; his holy heart 
was meant to love and cherish the things of God and 
God Himself; his holy will was meant to will and do 
the things of God from godly motives for godly ends. 
Being God's in holiness and righteousness, he was to 
give himself to God by unfolding in a glorious life of 
holiness and righteousness the powers and possibili- 
ties God had placed in his being. 

The animals could have no such task, for they were 
fitted out with different faculties, pointing to a far in- 
ferior end. The task of man in his original holy state- 
was like that of the angels, but with a difference. They 
were to work theirs out merely as spirits in the celestial 
realms on high ; man was to work his out as an em- 
bodied spirit in the terrestrial home given him of God. 



4 His Footsteps. 

As the link between the lower and the higher creation, 
man stood with his face turned upward to God, while 
his feet rested amid earthly surroundings. Thinking 
God's thoughts, loving God and the things of God, 
doing the will of God willingly and with joy, his body 
with all its members was to glorify God, in the unity of 
his spirit; and, ruling as the visible head of the crea- 
tures of earth, all beneath his hand was in its measure 
likewise to glorify the Creator. The mission of man, 
as set for him in the beauty of holiness, thus had its 
own peculiar sphere, and likewise its own peculiar ex- 
altation. As one star differs in glory from another, so 
the stars of creation, angel and man, were to have each 
its own glory. 

We may say in this connection that in a special way 
man, the holy, perfect creature of God, was from the 
beginning designed to follow in the footsteps of the 
Son of God, the Only-Begotten, the Firstborn of every 
creature. For the Son is the express image of God, 
as Paul writes, 2 Cor. 4, 4, "Christ, who is the image 
of God"; Col. 1, 15, "Who is the image of the invisible 
God, the firstborn of every creature" ; likewise the let- 
ter to the Hebrews, 1, 3, "Who being the brightness 
of His glory, and the express image of His person, 
and upholding all things by the word of His power." 
Not that the Son is a creature like the angels or man, 
only higher, and that therefore we should follow His 
footsteps and be like Him. He is the Only-Begotten, 
of the same essence as the Father. In Him shine forth 
all the glorious and blessed attributes of God, and He 
is thus the essential image of God. And we are cre- 
ated after His image, that His glory might be reflected 



The Firstborn Among Many Brethren. 5 

in us. We were created for His glory, and therefore to 
be like Him. But He who is like the express image of 
God, like the Son of God in holiness and righteousness, 
will for this very reason bear the image of the Triune 
God. Yet when it comes to our unfolding the image 
of God created in us, it is not so much the Father nor 
the Spirit that is set before us, to whom we are to be 
conformed, as the Son, who is the express image of 
God; and our life when it unfolds in His likeness will 
be in the true likeness of Father, Son, and Spirit. 

Yet all that should have been and could have been 
has not been because of sin. We who were created 
after the image of God have lost that image and have 
become like unto the enemy of God, Satan, who sinned 
from the beginning. The creature that once was holy 
is so no more, but has become unholy. The life that 
should have unfolded in the full glory of holiness has 
suffered a fearful blow, and now unfolds in sin and 
unholiness. The spirit of man turned from God, its 
Creator, and the Fountain of all its excellence and 
blessedness, and tried to stand by itself and to secure 
excellence and blessedness other than God has to give, 
and in ways other than God has designed. Man left 
the footsteps of the Only-Begotten Son of God and 
chose his own course, the path of sin and darkness and 
death. 

Once the awful separation was made, there was no 
power in man himself to retrace his steps. The curse 
of God resting upon. him he himself can not remove; 
the spirit of unholiness to which he surrendered he can 
not shake off. The purity of holiness and sinlessness 
he once possessed he can not now of himself regain. 



6 His Footsteps. 

He can not give himself what he has not; he can not 
lift himself from the quicksands into which he has 
fallen. Being without light, he can not relight the 
flame now extinguished. When in the state of holi- 
ness he had the fountain of all help in God alone and 
not in himself, now in the state of sin much more will 
he find no fountain of help in himself. He is lost, sold 
like a slave, and bound with the chains of hell. 

This awful state of sin has affected man in every part. 
His spirit is corrupt and unholy; his soul is the seat 
of evil passions and desires, his body, once the pure 
and perfect instrument of a holy spirit, is now the 
tainted and corrupted instrument of sin. Even the rest 
of the creatures of earth, intended for the dominion of 
man's holy hand now rebel against him who sun- 
dered himself in sin from his Creator. The demand now 
for man to follow in the footsteps of God, is like bidding 
a bird with shattered wings to fly. How can we walk the 
angel paths of purity and light, when we are engulfed 
in the mire of sin? It would be vain to picture the 
shining hights of holiness in God to him who lies in he 
dreadful night of iniquity. The memory of what he 
once was, and what in consequence he should now be, 
can only crush man's soul the more, and sink him into 
the deadly depths of despair. Let it be understood, 
therefore, that these pages are written not for the 
natural man, with an expectation that he might find in 
himself any measure of power for realizing what is 
here portrayed. There is no walking in the footsteps 
of the divine Master for him who lies still beneath the 
curse and power of sin. 



The Firstborn Among Many Brethren. 7 

But for this very reason the present chapter has re- 
ceived the significant heading, "The Firstborn Among 
Many Brethren." The purpose of God in creation has 
been crossed indeed by sin, but has not been aban- 
doned on the part of God as impossible of realization. 
Where sin entered grace followed. "Where sin 
abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin 
hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign 
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ 
our Lord." Rom. 5, 20. 21. The Only-Begotten has 
become the Firstborn among many brethren. He 
who was the image of God, and after whose image we 
were created, that we might be like unto Him, 
has prepared ways and means that we, who have 
lost His image in sin, may again recover it, and rise 
to unfold it for His glory in never-ending blessedness. 
The Son became flesh and dwelt among us; He took 
our sin and the curse of the law upon Himself, and 
removed it by his blood; He took the burden of the 
law upon Himself and worked out for us a perfect 
righteousness. Jesus Christ stepped into the breach 
and checked the deadly work of sin. The power that 
we had not in ourselves He had in Himself, and ex- 
erted it mightily in our behalf. His life and death 
built the great bridge of redemption down from the 
shining nights of heaven and holiness into the dark- 
ness and death of this sinful earth. And now that the 
way is made for our return, the Son hath sent His 
Holy Spirit to lead us up on high. 

As long as wc remain what sin has made us, we can 
only walk in darkness, and sink down at last in eternal 
death. But the Spirit of God brings us Christ's re- 



8 His Footsteps. 

demption, removing our sin by His blood, clothing us 
in righteousness by His holy life. Thus we who turned 
from God, and forsook Him to seek the center of our 
being in ourselves and to go our own dark way, are 
brought back to God. justified, cleansed, adopted as 
His children, regenerated, and returned to communion 
with Him. Faith in Christ gives up self and sin, and 
opens the heart again unto God; and into the believing 
heart the Spirit of God pours out all that Christ has 
prepared for us. Washed in His blood, clothed in 
His purity, we are again like Him, and being like Him 
God is well pleased with us, and calls us sons. But as 
in Paradise man who- had received the image of God 
was to unfold this image in a life of holiness for His 
glory, so now when man is justified and regenerated, 
when he returns to God through Christ, and the Spirit 
of God enters his heart to dwell therein, the great task 
set before him is that which was his in the beginning, 
the unfolding of the image of God in all his life here 
and hereafter for the glory of the Triune God. "Put 
off concerning the former conversation the old man 
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and 
be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put 
on the new man which after God is created in right- 
eousness and true holiness." Eph. 4, 24. "Lie not 
one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man 
with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which 
is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that 
created him." Col. 3, 9. 10. 

The Scriptures abound in admonitions unto holi- 
ness; entire chapters are devoted to its elucidation and 
inculcation.' But every single passage in these chap- 



The Firstborn Among Many Brethren. 9 

ters takes for granted the restoration of man in justifi- 
cation through faith to a position and condition in 
which he can again be and live holy. Not a single line 
presumes that the unchanged sinner is able to meet 
the demands of holiness. Nor do the Scriptures 
teach that all we need to be able again to conform 
our lives to the image of God's Son, is the mere act and 
fact of regeneration; and that when we are once justi- 
fied and regenerated, we can take care of ourselves, 
and unfold by our own natural ability a life of holiness 
and purity. On the contrary, as we confess: I be r 
lieve that I cannot by my own reason or strength be- 
lieve in Christ, so we must confess: I believe that I 
can not by my own reason or strength be conformed 
to Christ in holiness and walk in His footsteps. It is 
God which worketh in us both to will and to do; it is 
the Holy Spirit who must renew and sanctify us and 
lead us in the footsteps of the Firstborn. But He 
leads us as living members of Christ, as loving brethren 
of the Firstborn. As the flower unfolds beneath the 
sun's warm rays, so the Christian life unfolds beneath 
the quickening rays of God's Spirit shining into our 
hearts through the Word and Sacrament; as the fruit 
forms, develops, and ripens under the benign influence 
of nature's light and warmth and moisture, so the fruits 
of the Spirit grow and ripen under His gracious in- 
fluences. 

Our task, however, of following in Christ's footsteps 
as His brethren by His help is not now altogether 
identical with the task as set for man in Paradise. The 
circumstances and conditions have changed. We are 
now in a world of sin, and sin still has its seat within 



10 His Footsteps. 

us. Man as first created dwelt in a world of heavenly 
purity and beauty, and knew no sin. Sin with its temp- 
tation approached man in Eden from without, we have 
the temptation of the flesh, the devil, and the world 
about and within us. These are different circum- 
stances and conditions, and in as far as they are taken 
into account our task has changed. But the change 
does not affect the essence of the matter. The end to 
be reached is still the same, that we may be con- 
formed to the image of His Son; and although we 
must now work ourselves up through many difficulties 
and hindrances, the grace of God does not let us lack 
anything. From Him we may freely take grace for 
grace; when we stumble, He lifts us up; when we faint, 
He gives us strength. And He will bring us unto per- 
fection at last. 

It belongs to this all-sufficient grace of God, adapt- 
ing itself to the changed circumstances in our position, 
that the image of His Son, to which we are to be con- 
formed, is now for us, who are still in the midst of sin 
and in the vale of tears, not the merely divine image 
of the Son as the Only-Begotten of the Father. Our 
eyes are dark, our hearts are dull, our life of faith so 
weak and small. Heaven seems so high, its holiness 
so unattainable for us when viewed across the mighty 
expanse. But behold, the Only-Begotten has become 
the Firstborn among many brethren. He who is the 
express image of God has shown us this image in the 
form of man, in the life of a brother, who was tempted 
in all things as we are, who bore all our infirmities, who 
learned obedience down to the lowest possible humil- 
iation. What infinite condescension that "Christ also 



The Firstborn Among Many Brethren. 11 

suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should 
follow in His steps." By living the earthly life He 
lived from the manger to the sepulchre, He provided 
not only redemption for us to embrace, but also a divine 
earthly pattern for us to follow. He has shown us in 
a living figure what our life should be on earth accord- 
ing to God's intention. 

In addition to the life itself as thus set before us for 
us to follow as brethren of Christ, we have the stain- 
less record of this life in the Word. The image of the 
Son shines no longer in the distant heavens, like a 
star too far away for sinful men to see clearly, nor is it 
seen through the ever-thickening clouds of mere hu- 
man description and the imperfect portrayal of men 
long dead and gone ; it unfolds all its mild radiance in 
our very presence, every beam unbeclouded, un- 
dimmed, in all its pristine perfection. The Firstborn 
is among His brethren to-day living and breathing 
in the Word. There we see His thoughts and hear 
His words and behold His deeds. Like a faultless 
flower His young life unfolds. With perfect devotion 
He yields Himself to His Father's business. With 
unflinching firmness He conquers the bitter foe. And 
thus step by step, till we reach the end, and see Him 
who is to lead many sons unto God bow his pale brow 
in death. What task can the Christian set for himself 
greater than this, to follow his Master step by step? 
Here the flesh, which we can not wholly shake off, will 
hinder full perfection; but the day approaches, when 
all Christ's brethren who have followed in His foot- 
steps shall be made forever like Him in the full per- 
fection of holiness. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CHILD GREW— JESUS INCREASED. 

tJA S the child Jesus grew from infancy to youth, 
Af| and as the youth Jesus increased unto full 
manhood, in true human development of 
body, mind, and spirit, perfect and sinless through- 
out, so we are to grow and increase, and the spiritual 
life which Jesus gives us through His Spirit is to 
develop and unfold itself in the course of our earthly 
life, from the infancy of faith up to full manhood and 
conscious power. This development of the new man 
born in us is undoubtedly a following in the footsteps 
of the Firstborn. 

Jesus was true man; as an infant, as a child, as 
a youth, as an adult, He was in all things like unto 
us, the only difference being that in Him there dwelt 
no sin. He possessed not merely a human body, or 
certain human faculties, but our entire human nature; 
He was as much a human child as any child that is 
born of woman. To be sure, He was sinless, and the 
effects of sin that deprave and mar our human nature, 
hurting our bodies, harming our minds and faculties, 
debasing our spirits, left Him untouched. But we 
dare not say that for this reason He is too exalted 
to be an example for us ; on the contrary, if any meas- 
ure of sin and sinful imperfection had been found in 



The Child Grew — Jesus Increased. 13 

Him, that would have been the very thing rendering 
Him unfit to be an example for others. For whatever 
of sin would have been found in Him would have been 
the thing we should not follow and copy in ourselves. 
And because sin cannot be confined in one corner 
of a person's nature, but like a deadly blight spreads 
at once over the whole and taints every part, therefore 
any blot of sin in Jesus would have dragged His entire 
person down from its lofty hight, and He could not 
have been the Savior of man in any way, neither our 
substitute, nor our example. The very sinless per- 
fection'of Jesus makes Him the example in whose foot- 
steps we are to follow. 

Jesus, however, was not merely man, but the God- 
man, all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Him. 
The child whose perfect development is to be our pat- 
tern of growth was born not of the will of man, but 
conceived by the Holy Ghost. His human nature was 
therefore filled with all the excellence of the divine 
nature. He who was born of the virgin Mary was 
at the same time the eternal Son of the Father. And 
yet we dare not say that for this reason He is too 
far above us and too different from us to be our 
example, and that therefore it is useless to speak 
of our following in His footsteps. Man was originally 
created after His image; he was so constituted that 
his life should have been an unfolding of the divine 
image. The Son of God, the express image of God, 
in all the excellency of His divine qualities was the 
original example for man, the perfect creature, cre- 
ated after His image, to pattern after and copy in 
the measure rendered possible by his creation. That 



14 His Footsteps. 

purpose of God with regard to man remains un- 
changed to-day. Therefore, for us to say or to think 
that the God-man is too high for us, or too different 
from us, to be our example and pattern because He 
is God, is simply a refusal on our part to become and 
be what God intended. 

But we must say more. Jesus, the God-man, exhib- 
its Himself as our pattern, now that we have fallen 
into sin, not as a purely divine person, but as a divine 
person who is at the same time perfectly human. He 
walked the earth not in the majestic glory of divinity, 
but in the deep humility of the flesh. He was made 
like unto us, although He remained divine. The glory 
of the God-man is veiled in the flesh during the period 
of His voluntary humiliation; and not till His earthly- 
life was finished was the veil removed and the majesty 
of divinity fully revealed. Therefore, if the Son as 
the Only-Begotten of the Father is already our pattern, 
much more then the Son as born of the virgin Mary. 
Now that He is our brother indeed, flesh of our flesh, 
and bone of our bone, we dare not think Him too high 
and too different from us for us to follow in His steps. 
Such imagination would now be doubly sinful. 

The Scriptures give us only a mere outline of the 
human development of the God-man; but there is 
enough for us to study reverently that we may copy 
after it. Nor need we go off into all sorts of specu- 
lations prompted by our own ambitious wisdom. 

The child Jesus grew like a true human child. His 
little limbs became stronger day by day, His infant 
bodv developed all its members of flesh and blood. 
And as His body grew, so also His mind and spirit. 



The Child Grew — Jesus Increased. 15 

The senses unfolded their activity more fully day by 
day. The mind opened and began to perceive, to 
know, to think, to reason, to desire, to love, to choose, 
to will, to act. The spirit developed in like measure; 
Jesus "waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and 
the grace of God was upon Him." "And Jesus 
increased in wisdom and stature and in favor 
with God and man." He began to know Him- 
self, the world about Him, the God above Him; 
and this knowledge of His spirit, as it unfolded 
and increased day by day, was true and pure and 
unclouded, every measure of it which He attained. 
He began to desire and love likewise, without a shadow 
of selfishness, His heavenly Father, His earthly par- 
ents, His neighbors and companions, and all the gifts 
and blessings and graces of God. He began to choose 
and to will, and this again in the same way, with the 
same purity and strength; His choosing was ever 
directed Godward, His willing ever in conformity with 
God's will. And thus His life unfolded in human 
action; at first the actions of a child, then those of 
youth, and finally those of full manhood; and every 
action was, from inception to completion, and in every 
stage of His earthly life, the unstained work of obedi- 
ence to God. 

We have no full and detailed record of the thoughts, 
words, and deeds of Christ to illustrate this gradual 
and flawless development of the child Jesus unto man- 
hood. Only brief lines are furnished us to mark the 
progress, and they must suffice. 

The stage of childhood is marked by growth in wis- 
dom. The little one learned as children learn; and 



16 His Footsteps. 

doubtless this was like the learning of Timothy at his 
mother's and grandmother's knee. Jesus learned 
from His mother's lips what she could teach Him 
from the Scriptures. Into the pure, bright, young 
heart sank the everlasting truth of God, and the child's 
spirit was filled with heavenly wisdom. 

The stage of boyhood is marked by a definite amount 
of wisdom, and by actions in accordance with this 
wisdom. We presume that the full meaning of the 
Jewish Easter festival was made known to the boy 
of twelve now if not already before, and with His 
penetrating eye He undoubtedly saw more in the fes- 
tival than Mary or Joseph could see. The Bible 
account concerning the paschal lamb was full of the 
deepest meaning for Him. A peculiar fascination held 
the boy when at last He stood in the temple at' Jeru- 
salem. And the first words that we have from His 
lips declare His clear knowledge of God as His true 
Father, and of a peculiar "business" or work which 
His Father meant Him to perform, and to which He 
meant without question or hesitation to devote Him- 
self. We are unable to trace the development that 
lay back of this utterance and action of Jesus, but 
there is no doubt as to the development itself and 
as to the degree of wisdom attained. 

As we find a definite degree of wisdom at this stage, 
so also a definite course of action: "He was subject 
unto them." Not that Jesus had not been subject 
to Mary and Joseph heretofore. Concerning His 
previous life the holy record declared that He waxed 
strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace 
of God was upon Him. He therefore possessed the 



The Child Grew — Jesus Increased. 17 

wisdom of obedience befitting a child of His age, and 
for this very reason too the grace of God was upon 
Him. It could not have been otherwise. But when 
the child began to leave the days of childhood behind, 
when His wisdom began to know whence He was 
and what He had been sent for, His obedience to 
Mary and Joseph became more than it had been 
hitherto. He now submits and subjects Himself vol- 
untarily to those of whom He knew that He was far 
above them. He calls God His Father about whose 
business He must be, and yet He obeys His mother 
and His foster-father in perfect love and submission. 
He executes that part of His Father's business which 
consisted in childlike obedience, and executes it with 
a fuller knowledge than hitherto of what this obedi- 
ence means. This obedient subjection undoubtedly 
marks a stage in the development of the Son of man. 

There is nothing to hinder us from presuming a like 
development for Jesus in other directions and rela- 
tions. But the Scriptures say no more about His 
early years, and therefore we must refrain from at- 
tempting further portrayal. 

We meet Christ again when He has grown to full 
manhood and is now thirty or nearly thirty years old. 
And again we see how His spirit has unfolded far be- 
yond what once it saw and felt and did in Jerusalem and 
in Nazareth. He now knows the full truth in regard 
to His person and His work, and more than this, 
He knows that the great hour has arrived, and He 
goes forth from the quiet home in Nazareth to per- 
form the mighty work of redemption. He stands on 
Jordan's banks; He goes out into the wilderness 



18 His Footsteps. 

alone; He returns to Galilee; He begins to preach, 
teach, and work miracles, to gather and train His little 
band of disciples: in a word, to do the mighty work 
that was finished on the cross. What a stupendous 
advance from the child and the boy of twelve. He 
has now grown and increased indeed and come to 
the full stature of manhood. 

Such is a simple sketch of the human development 
of Jesus, and it is for us as His brethren to follow in 
His footsteps. 

It needs no proof for those who are His brethren 
to show that our natural life under the power of sin 
could never follow in its development these progress- 
ing footsteps of Jesus. We might grow indeed in 
bodily stature, but, left to itself, the spirit of every 
human child will be fettered by sin and sink into 
ever deeper slavery, instead of waxing strong and 
increasing in knowledge and in favor with God and 
man. 

The course of our development in the footsteps of 
Jesus begins and can begin only on the entrance of 
God's Spirit into our hearts through Baptism and 
by faith. The new man that is thus born in us may 
follow in the footsteps of the God-man; the sons 
of God may grow and increase in spiritual stature 
like the Son of God. 

One of the great errors of to-day is that which denies 
to infancy and childhood the gift of regeneration and 
sonship, and desires to push the new birth and the 
subsequent development of the new life far back into 
life. The worst form of this pitiable error is the notion, 
that the child must become an adult before the new 



The Child Grew — Jesus Increased. 19 

life is brought near it, and that then it can choose 
for itself, whether it will have this life or not. 

But either our children are already regenerated, 
when they are born into the world, or they are not. 
If they are, they need no regeneration, no conversion, 
their development can begin at once. But the Scrip- 
tures deny that we have the new life in us by nature. 
They declare that we are born spiritually dead, con- 
ceived and brought forth in sin, with an imagination 
evil from our youth up. Christ's own words are per- 
fectly clear: ".Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except 
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot 
enter into the kingdom of God; that which is born 
of the flesh is flesh." A new birth, therefore, is abso- 
lutely necessary, before the new life is ours and can 
start its spiritual growth. Consequently, to let our 
babes lie in their unregenerate state is a crime against 
their souls. We cannot too' soon bring them to the 
blessed washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost, to 
the Holy Sacrament of Baptism, by which throixgh the 
power of the Spirit they are reborn and made children 
of God and co-heirs of Christ. 

The devil does not wait till we reach years of so- 
called discretion before he begins his work in us and 
upon us; pray, why then should God and His Spirit 
wait? Shall we rest indolently till the field is one 
mass of weeds before we attempt to plant, or shall we 
take it while the seed of evil still slumbers and may 
be checked and displaced by the wheat? And will 
the young man and woman who are left to grow up 
as children of this world love anything but the world 
and indulge its lust when their years increase, and 



20 His Footsteps. 

will it not be only so much harder to win them for 
Christ after allowing- them to become attached to the 
world? Can he who is chained fast in selfishness and 
worldliness still choose as though he were free? Or 
can he who is utterly blinded by the lies of the devil 
and the flesh see and desire the truth of God? No; 
if we are to lead our children in the footsteps of Jesus, 
we must bring them to Jesus and make them par- 
takers of His life by Baptism in earliest infancy. The 
normal Christian life should follow Christ from baby- 
hood on till the hour of death, whenever that may 
come. 

Baptism is, therefore, the sacrament which bestows 
upon the child the new life that is to unfold in ever 
fuller development while man remains on earth. The 
Baptism of every child, therefore, takes for granted 
and demands the assurance that the new life im- 
planted shall be fostered and cared for according to 
its need. There is a clear analogy between the new- 
born infant and the spiritually reborn infant. The 
little human life would soon perish if no motherly 
hand cherished and nourished it; the little spiritual 
life would likewise soon perish, if no motherly hand 
cherished and nourished it. The little human babe 
would suffer and become deformed and diseased, if 
not properly cared for by parental hands; the little 
babe of God would likewise suffer and become crip- 
pled and diseased spiritually, if not properly attended 
by parental care. To be sure, the natural life of the 
child is more manifest to our senses than the spiritual. 
And yet let us not forget that for months the natural 
jife too was hidden in darkness, and its first beginning 



The Child Grew — Jesus Increased. 21 

was imperceptible. And even when the child is bdrn, 
there are days and weeks when its life is hushed and 
veiled in slumber. After all, the dissimilarity is not 
so great. Only a little while and the little hands 
can be folded in prayer and the little lips lisp the 
name of Jesus. 

To be sure, many are brought unto Baptism, and 
afterwards left to perish spiritually for want of spir- 
itual food and care. And many are not cared for 
as they should be. Yet this neglect can never justify 
the additional neglect of Baptism. One wrong will 
never right another. The commission of one wrong 
cannot justify the commission of another. No, let the 
wrong that is wrong be righted, and not used as an 
aid for establishing another. 

But all we have said so far already presupposes a 
difference between our development and that of the 
Son of man. In Him there was no sin at all, while in 
us there is sin from our conception on. In Him there 
was no conflict between the old and the new, in us 
the conflict remains while life lasts. In Him there 
was an unchecked, perfect, harmonious development 
from birth till death, in us there is a development that 
must fight its way against many obstacles, now 
checked, now thrown back, progressing unevenly and 
imperfectly at best. The development of Jesus is like 
the course of a straight line, while ours is wavering 
and crooked and sometimes broken. And yet it is 
not in vain to attempt the walk in Christ's footsteps. 
The knowledge of our imperfect and uneven growth, 
of our yielding and submitting to sin and its influence, 
mav humble us, but blessed is the -humiliation of 



22 His Footsteps. 

repentance. The faultiness of our spiritual life when 
compared with the faultlessness of Christ may fill us 
with grief, and yet life is better than death, and a life 
as much as possible like that of Christ better than 
one altogether unlike Him. And moreover, he alone 
who lives the life of God and follows Christ here shall 
reach the life of glorious perfection above. We can- 
not say that we have no sin, without deceiving our- 
selves, we cannot claim more than Paul, who admitted 
that he had not attained perfection; nevertheless, 
looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, 
we can fight the fight of faith, strive after Christlike- 
ness. and rejoice in the Lord, knowing that our labor 
is not in vain. 

The spiritual development that should follow Bap- 
tism in the child must be like the growth of Jesus. 
"The child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with 
wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him." The 
same should be true in a degree of every Christian 
child. We read in the Scriptures concerning Tim- 
othy: "And that from a child thou hast known the 
Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise 
unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 
Here is Christlike development. Not that Timothy 
was a second Christ in perfection. None can be that. 
Yet here we have what is possible for those who are 
trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 
It is not said that Timothy reached the highest night 
of spiritual development possible for a human child; 
suffice it to say that he grew and waxed strong in 
spirit, and was filled with wisdom to a notable degree. 
And did not the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth and 



The Child Grew — Jesus Increased. 23 

little Samuel of old follow in the same course? The 
Savior Himself bade little children to come unto Him, 
and they may and can come now. And who would 
forget the mighty word He spoke concerning "these 
little ones which believe in me"? Blessed are they 
whose infant feet follow in the footsteps of the child 
Jesus! 

Of the child Jesus we read that He was filled with 
wisdom, of the boy Jesus that He increased in wis- 
dom, and of Timothy, that the Holy Scriptures were 
able to make him wise unto salvation through faith. 
This then is the path for children in the footsteps 
of Jesus, increasing child-wisdom drawn from the 
Holy Scriptures. Let the child hear this wisdom from 
its earliest days on and see in the conduct of its par- 
ents and friends from the very beginning the reflec- 
tion of this wisdom. Who is able to name the day 
when the first impression of this wisdom leaves its 
mark in the child-heart? Spiritual knowledge can 
be taught and received as early as any other. 

By this reception of truth is not meant a mere learn- 
ing by rote. The child is to become wise unto sal- 
vation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, not 
therefore through empty memory work under threat 
of punishment if it be dull, or for its own praise if 
it be bright. It is not quantity so much as quality 
of knowledge that is desired. Not a mass of separate 
Biblical facts to fill the little brain, but the one person 
of Jesus the Savior known to be Joved and trusted 
in above all things. What a misunderstanding of this 
wisdom to boast of a child's ability to name in order 
all the books of the Bible, while that same child 



24 His Footsteps. 

cannot name what Christ has done for its salvation, 
and why it should love and trust in Him. What mis- 
directed zeal to let young- children begin their attempts 
at learning God's saving wisdom by wrestling with 
the long chain of Old Testament histories, keeping 
the supreme history of Christ from them till the last. 
And finally what woful work to teach the history of 
Christ like a mere historical sum of facts, to be held 
only in the head, while the heart remains cold. To 
be sure, even these mistaken methods may produce 
some measure of true wisdom, yet how much more 
might be accomplished by a wiser course. 

The child's development after the pattern of Jesus 
includes of necessity a knowledge of its Father's busi- 
ness and a fervent devotion in doing it. This business 
for the Christian child is chiefly prayer in Jesus' name 
and obedience for Jesus' sake. Not the empty for- 
malism of prayer, the thoughtless, hasty repetitions 
with which so many are satisfied. Let not the little 
ones come to God with their lips while their hearts 
are far away. Nor should the outward act of obedi- 
ence be considered enough, rendered unwillingly per- 
haps, or only from the motive of natural love to father 
and mother. Obedience must be for the sake of Christ 
who is ever present, a service of God who seeth in 
secret, and not merely of men who are easily deceived. 
Certainly, this aim is high. But if youner Joseph in 
distant Egypt had God constantly before his eyes, our 
children as they grow in years can likewise be im- 
pressed with God's constant presence and the blessed- 
ness of serving Him in all things and in all places. 



The Child Grew — Jesus Increased. 25 

The beginnings that are thus made must reach 
some degree of completeness in early youth, corre- 
sponding to the attainments of Jesus at the age of 
twelve. Among Lutherans the day of confirmation 
is intended to mark this neriod. By that time the 
five chief parts of Christian knowledge, as given in 
Luther's Catechism, should have been carefully incul- 
cated. The elements of Christian life and conduct 
should be mastered by the boy and girl of fourteen 
or fifteen. The blessings of the Christian state and 
life should now be prized and sought. The purpose 
of further growth in faith and holiness should be 
firmly formed and diligently and intelligently pursued. 
The young warrior of Christ should increase in 
strength daily and in ability to wield the weapons 
of his Master in fighting the foes that he and every 
one of his fellow-warriors must meet. 

Shall we proceed to speak at length of the many 
hindrances that will rise to check this development? 
Who can name them all? Shall we try to sketch the 
further course of Christian progress in knowledge, 
faith, and conduct? That would include all the con- 
tents of the chapters that are to follow. 



CHAPTER III. 

HE CAME EATING AND DRINKING. 

/CHRIST came eating and drinking, a man among 
\[. men, with a heart for everything human. Herein 
^^ He is the example for us all. 

From His youth on we see Christ entering com- 
pletely into all our human relations with their joys and 
sorows, their labors and their pleasures. Although 
aware of His divine origin, He went up to Nazareth 
and took the place of a son beneath His parents' direc- 
tion. He did not deem Himself too high and exalted 
to assume the burdens and the humble joys of a child's 
station. The child was father to the man; although 
He constantly demands of men that they receive Him 
as the Son of God, He comes eating and drinking, and 
delighting in the name, the Son of man. 

We meet Christ amid the joys of the wedding feast at 
Cana. Perhaps the groom or the bride was a relative 
of His mother, and thus also of Himself, seeing that 
Mary was so concerned about the lack of wine. But 
whether such bonds of relationship dictated the invita- 
tion or not, the fact remains, that Jesus was present 
as a guest. And we must surely say He bore Himself 
on that joyful occasion not with cold austerity or dis- 
tant chilling reserve. His table manners and table 
talk, as we know from other reports, were of the finest 



He Came Eating and Drinking. 27 

and most fitting. He rejoiced at Cana with the joyful. 
Although none of His conversation is recorded for us. 
we are confident that it harmonized completely with 
the happy occasion, that far from lowering itself in 
the least to the commonplace, foolish, or vulgar, it 
gave in all simplicity a pure, elevated, spiritually de- 
lightful tone to all the festivities of the hour. 

Jesus accepted many invitations to dine, even some 
that were extended with scant grace on the part of Hh 
enemies. In Capernaum we see Him at table with 
Matthew, whom He had just called to follow Him as 
a disciple. Matthew had made a great farewell feast 
to his friends. Being a publican himself, there were 
quite a number of these despised and detested individ- 
uals among the guests bidden to the feast. The pride 
and exclusiveness of the Pharisees could only condemn 
utterly any contact with men so sinful and depraved. 
But in Jesus we find nothing of this feeling. To Him 
they were poor sinners, longing with more or less 
earnestness for salvation. Therefore He is ready to 
meet them, to eat with them, to hold converse with 
them. By no word or act did He countenance any of 
their dishonesty or oppression ; in no way did He lower 
Himself by accommodating His bearing or discourse 
to their sinfulness. But neither did He in any way 
cast them off. He used His friendly intercourse with 
them to turn them from their sin and to bring them unto 
salvation. The meeting of Christ at table with publi- 
cans and sinners was repeated on different occasions. 
Even on His last journey the house of Zacchseus, a 
chief of the publicans, was honored by the presence of 
Jesus. In this instance, recognizing the modesty and 



28 His Footsteps. 

reticence of Zacchaeus, Jesus freely invited Himself, 
and His friendly advances were accepted with grati- • 
tude and joy. Zacchseus was a changed man after 
eating and drinking with the Son of man on that mem- 
orable day. 

One of the earliest invitations to dine which we are 
told that Tesus accepted was that of Simon the Phari- 
see. As yet there was no decided enmity against Jesus, 
although, to be sure, there was also no friendship. 
Simon probably was induced to ask the Master to- 
table from feelings of curiosity mingled with a desire 
to have the great Teacher enter his house; perhaps in 
a distant way Simon desired to express a certain de- 
gree of approval of something in Jesus. One thing 
is clear, the common acts of courtesy due an esteemed, 
guest thus invited were studiously omitted on this 
occasion. There was not even water for the great 
Guest's dusty feet. Yet these intentional slights did 
not provoke Him who was come into the world to 
bear far greater wrongs. He had entered under Si- 
mon's roof not so much to be ministered unto as Him- 
self to minister to His host. And an ever memorable 
occasion soon presented itself. A sinful woman came 
in among others. 

" She sat and wept beside His feet ; the weight 
Of sin oppressed her heart; for all the blame 
And the poor malice of the worldly shame, 
To her were past, extinct, and out of date; 
Only the sin remained — the leprous state. 
She would be melted by the heat of love, 
By fires far fiercer than are blown to prove 
And purge the silver ore adulterate. 



He Came Eating and Drinking. 29 

She sat and wept, and with her undressed hair, 
Still wiped the feet she was so blessed to touch ; 
And He wiped off the soiling of despair 
From her sweet soul, because she loved so much." 

Simon and his fellow Pharisees were astounded that 
Jesus should suffer one so polluted to touch Him; they 
should have been astounded that Jesus suffered Him- 
self to sit at table with people as polluted as they were 
by the stains of wicked pride and self-righteousness. 
With the gentleness of infinite love Christ accepted 
the repentant love of the woman and forgave her sins; 
with the gentleness of infinite love He rebuked the 
impenitence of Simon, and sought to lead his proud 
and cold heart to repentance, love and faith. It was 
for this that He had come to eat and drink with Simon, 
the Pharisee. 

Opposition soon began to deepen, and the Pharisees 
had already sent spies to watch Jesus for some word 
or act which might be used against Him. They them- 
selves used every means for bringing about His down- 1 
fall. After accusing Him of casting out devils through 
the power of Beelzebub himself we are surprised to 
hear that "a certain Pharisee besought Him to dine 
with him." What prompted the invitation we are un- 
able to say. It may have been malice aforethought, 
an attempt to take Jesus at disadvantage by having 
Him alone in the midst of His foes; yet it is just possi- 
ble that the host on this occasion did not share the 
dislike of his sect against Jesus, and extended the in- 
vitation from some less sinister motive. But if the 
host himself lacked in evil design, his companions 
made up doubly for the lack. Jesus accepted the in- 



30 His Footsteps. 

vitation. He entered in alone among that scowling, 
evil-minded company. But never for a moment did 
He attempt to act out a "false show of friendship" where 
there was nothing but bitter opposition to the end. 
Without washing He reclined upon the couch to par- 
take of the refreshments served. This circumstance 
at once set the antagonism of the Pharisees ablaze. 
They marvelled, with deprecating gestures and scorn, 
"that He had not first washed before dinner." At- 
tempts at conciliation would have appeared to then 
only as an acknowledgment that their phariseeism 
was in the right. Christ therefore administered a 
thorough rebuke. Though alone amid this hostile 
company He was in every way their master. "Xow 
do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and 
the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and 
wickedness." And then followed the list of those 
awful woes, cutting into the very heart of their wick- 
edness, revealing all the hidden depravity of their 
malice and hypocrisy. The fury of the company burst 
forth like fire long pent up. They pressed in upon the 
fearless speaker, they urged Him vehemently to say 
many things. The meal came quickly to an end, and 
Jesus left them to warn the waiting multitude without 
against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 
This indeed was a memorable meal. Christ would 
have been justified in rejecting an invitation with 
scarcely even the forms of courtesy in it, but He meant 
to break with His treacherous foes in a different way. 
He came as the Son of man, eating and drinking, even 
into their midst; calmly, without a sign of passion, 
He exposed all their hideous depravity and pronounced 



He Came Eating and Drinking . 31 

the woe upon them which inevitably attached itself to 
their obstinate unbelief and inveterate malice. This 
settled His fate as far as the Pharisees were concerned. 
On one other occasion, after Jesus had left for good 
the stirring scenes of His Galilean ministry, He went 
in somewhere in Persea to dine with a Pharisee. Here 
again the Pharisees watched Him, with treachery in 
their hearts. A man afflicted with the dropsy stood 
by, and it was the Sabbath. Reading their evil de- 
signs, Jesus asked the company: "Is it lawful to heal 
on the Sabbath day?" They would not say yes, they 
dared not say no. And Jesus healed the man. Then 
He turned to those at table, if possible to heal them of 
a disease worse than dropsy. He revealed and re- 
buked their love of the world and of worldly honor: 
"When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit 
not down in the highest room." This is precisely 
what they attempted to do, as always, also on this oc- 
casion. Again Jesus told them: "When thou makest 
a feast, call the poor, the maimed; the lame, the blind; 
and thou shalt be blessed; for they can not recompense 
thee." And finally He spoke unto them the parable 
of the Great Supper, showing them how they who 
were called first, unless they would hasten to accept 
the invitation of God as now extended to them, would 
be excluded forever from the spiritual table of God, 
while the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind, 
the despised among their own people and among the 
Gentiles would enter and taste of all the rich provisions 
of grace. Words better suited to the hour and the 
guests at meat could not have been spoken. But here 
again their saving power was resisted. 



32 His Footsteps. 

A more grateful scene is pictured for us in Bethany. 
Martha received into her house the Master, whom she 
as well as her sister and brother loved. Love impelled 
her to set out and prepare all that her larder afforded 
for the honored Guest But, however much Jesus 
appreciated this busy love, He delighted still more in 
the quiet receptive love, which eats and drinks first of 
all at the table of His grace, and then, with a heart full 
of His blessed words, proceeds to set the hands in 
motion for His service. Eating and drinking is not 
the chief business of life; first comes the kingdom with 
its heavenly table and its divine food, then comes daily 
bread, and that properly sanctified and blessed. But 
those must have been moments unspeakably rich and 
sweet, when Jesus sat at meat in the house of His dear- 
est friends. 

A few days before the great passion the friends of 
Jesus in Bethany aranged a feast in His honor. It 
was in the house of one called Simon, the leper. Many 
conjectures have been made as to the identity of this 
Simon. Whether he was living at the time or already 
dead, we know not; nor whether he was in some way 
related to the family of Lazarus or not. It seems 
probable that Jesus had healed him of the disease of 
leprosy ; it may even have been the very house of Laza- 
rus himself and of his sisters which is here called, for 
some reason, the house of Simon. Martha, Mary, 
Lazarus, and the disciples were all present, the former 
two waiting at table. Lazarus had been raised from 
the dead only a few days before. There was but one 
man there to spoil the heavenly harmony, Judas the 
traitor. But the heart of Jesus is given so completely 



He Came Eating and Drinking . 33 

to His friends, and their devotion is so full of gladness 
in having Him thus in their midst, that even the scowls 
of Judas are not allowed to cast a shadow over this 
feast of farewell. The exceeding love of Mary honors 
the Master to the fullest extent of her ability, with an 
almost intuitive perception of the meaning of this last 
feast. She pours precious spikenard upon the Savior's 
head and feet, anointing Him, as He declared, for His 
burial. To behold Him thus, at the very last, eating 
and drinking with His friends, must win our hearts and 
draw them to Him whose humanity drew Him so 
strongly to us. 

At the feeding of the five thousand and again of the 
four thousand we see the manner of Christ's eating and 
drinking. He disregarded entirely the ceremonial 
washing of hands before and after eating, together with 
the peculiar movements of the hands considered nec- 
essary by the Pharisees in the act. Their washing of 
pots and dishes, couches and tables to avoid the possi- 
bility of defilement while eating was likewise set aside. 
Jesus proceeded in all simplicity as though these bur- 
densome rabbinical regulations had never been pre- 
scribed. He took the bread and blessed it by a brief 
prayer and then broke it to be eaten. On the Sabbath 
day the disciples were free to still their hunger by 
plucking ears of corn, and the Jews dare not gainsay 
the liberty. The Son of man came eating and drink- 
ing, He did not fast nor require fasting. There were 
times indeed when no food passed His lips; the time 
when, for the great throngs about Him, He could not 
stop to refresh Himself, the time when He suffered un- 
told tortures beneath the hands of His enemies. He 



34 His Footsteps. 

rejected the self-righteous and self-imposed fasts of the 
Pharisees, and their entire manner of fasting. "When 
ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, 
for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear 
unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have 
their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint 
thine head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto 
men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret; 
and thy Father, which seeth in secret shall reward thee 
openly." While the disciples were with Jesus in those 
happy days of freest intercourse with Him, they needed 
not to fast ; soon the Bridegroom would be taken from 
them, then the time to fast would come. Those who 
followed John, the preacher of repentance, might well 
bow in shame before God, and fast in sorrow of heart 
for their sins; but they who rejoiced in the bounteous 
grace and forgiveness of Jesus needed no symbols of 
sorrow, but only expressions of joy and gratitude. 

And this is what we are to learn from the manner in 
which Jesus appeared among men, eating and drink- 
ing, mingling with them as one of them, their very 
brother, with a heart for all that touches our hearts. 
His holiness and purity had no peculiar, distant, exclu- 
sive, monkish form. He stood not on a pinnacle by 
Himself, but condescended to men of low degree. The 
lexclusiveness of the Pharisees He repudiated alto- 
gether; the forms of their sham- holiness and piety He 
rejected utterly. Even the godly austerity of John 
Baptist, which was meant to serve a special purpose 
and to fill a special hour, Christ did not assume. His 
life was to set before us more than some exception 
which might apply only to a certain time or peculiar 



He Came Eating and Drinking . 35 

circumstances. His life exhibits an example perfect 
and complete. In its rounded whole all parts are found 
complete. Freely He gave Himself, heart and soul, 
unto men, and they who received Him, as some of the 
publicans, as His disciples, as the friends at Bethany 
and others, were made unspeakably rich by the gift. 

As Christ bore Himself in what pertains to His 
eating and drinking in particular, so also in every 
other respect. He entered most completely into the 
thoughts and feelings of those who loved Him. The 
deep grief of Mary over the death of her brother moves 
Him even to tears. As He is not ashamed to eat with 
repentant publicans, so He is not ashamed to weep 
with those who in their sorrow put their trust in Him. 
He is indeed as He calls Himself, the Son of man. 

Yet He is the sinless Son of man. However near 
He came to us, however freely He mingled with us, 
however much He was like unto us, and in fashion 
found as a man, He never defiled Himself with our sin. 
At Cana He created much wine, more than was needed 
for the hour, but not that men might over-drink them- 
selves and abuse the gift of God. The Pharisees in- 
vited Him with hypocrisy; He entered among them 
freely, openly, with perfect uprightness of heart. He 
sat with publicans and sinners, but not one of them 
went away the least encouraged in the sins of his life. 
He accepted the kind hospitality of Martha, but never 
for a moment pretended to pronounce her much serv- 
ing, while Mary sat and listened, well-pleasing to Him. 
In fact the more closely He united Himself to men, 
the more brightly His stainless purity shines out 
against their sin. 



36 His Footsteps. 

Our task in following the footsteps of Jesus is to 
come eating and drinking among our fellow men. both 
friends and foes, and to live the life of truth, love, and 
godliness In their midst. This task undoubtedly has 
its peculiar difficulties. Touching sinful, faulty men 
on every hand brings the evil influence of their sin and 
faultiness constantly to bear upon us, and tends to 
break down or to hinder our spiritual life and develop- 
ment. It is for this reason that the Romish seekers after 
piety have stopped eating and drinking among men, 
and walled themselves up in monasteries and cloisters. 
They have broken off common intercourse with men 
and cast the veil of seclusion about their persons to 
protect themselves as much as possible. But their 
efforts have been in vain. The more they have re- 
duced temptation from without, the more temptation 
has raged within. The condition of many is pitiable 
in the extreme ; for there are but few so constituted as 
to be able to live thus apart. It is a natural necessity 
for most men to live among their fellows. Moreover, 
Christian virtue was not meant to be hidden away in 
secluded walls. The followers of Christ are a city set 
on a hill, which can not be hid. The light of each dis- 
ciple is not to be put beneath a bushel, but to be set 
upon a candle-stick, to shine before men. We are a 
salt that is not to be packed and stowed away in sacks, 
but to exert its saltiness among the corruptions of earth. 
Even John the Baptist, who dwelt in the wilderness 
apart from men, stood forth in their midst, when the 
hour came, and exerted a mighty influence. And the 
example of Christ shows us that we are called to show 
forth the works of God for the salvation of men. 



He Ca?ne Eating and Drinking. 37 

When Christ came eating and drinking He fre- 
quently retired into solitude for prayer and prayerful 
meditation. The stream that flowed out among pub- 
licans and Pharisees had its own hidden sources. And 
so we are to seek the quiet of solitude and prayer, the 
secret closet for communion with God and for the 
strengthening of our spiritual life. But it would be 
abnormal to live altogether in such seclusion, or to draw 
forever from God without opening our hearts to give. 
If it is blessed to take, it is even more blessed to give 
after having taken. There is danger of spiritual self- 
ishness. Moreover, we need the conflict that comes 
in our intercourse with men; by meeting it in the 
strength of Christ we secure the victory which makes 
us valiant and efficient men of God. If the apostles 
had shut themselves up in monastic walls, there would 
be no church to-day. They were sent out into all the 
world, like lambs among wolves; the world was not 
worthy of them, as it was not worthy of Christ who 
gave Himself freely unto men; yet they never lacked, 
for Christ was their shield and treasure, a protection 
and a source of supply better than can be found in any 
cloistral hall or monkish cell. Their names stand so 
high to-day because the Spirit of Christ dwelt within 
them, and they went forth among men as the Master 
did. 

Christ's intercourse with sinful men and the Chris- 
tian's going forth in the Master's footsteps among 
men equally sinful dare not be taken as a license or 
an excuse for entering among evil men when there is 
no call for us to take such a risk and to assume such 
responsibility. Peter ventured into temptation and 



38 His Footsteps. 

fell deeply. The continued influence of evil especially 
upon hearts untried and weak is almost sure to prove 
disastrous. Christ was careful to shield His disciples 
against the insidious attacks of the Pharisees, while 
their training was still incomplete. They had no call 
to go forth as sheep among wolves, before their prepa- 
ration was sufficiently advanced. To rush foolishly 
into danger may tickle our own conceit, it will not 
honor Christ; to be found wanting in the conflict, to 
surrender in disgrace to the foe, will only provoke the 
derision of the world and give evil-minded men occa- 
sion to boast. To follow in the Masters footsteps is 
to keep first of all closely to His side and beneath His 
sheltering arm and draw abundantly from His 
strength; then, when He bids us, we may go forth as 
He did and honor Him with our steadfastness and dili- 
gence, with our ability to resist and overcome evil, 
and to win men from sin unto repentance and holiness. 
When Christ came eating and drinking, He did not 
in the least allow His life to become meat and drink. 
Never for a moment was His calling forgotten, never 
for a moment was the spiritual life quenched or even 
repressed. He is everywhere and always most com- 
pletely the Christ, the Savior of men. With us the 
danger is that we forget our calling, that we conform 
ourselves to the world and its worldliness, that in part 
or altogether our life becomes entangled and degraded 
in the things of earth. A feast like that at Cana is 
liable to carry away the weak into excesses. Even 
good women like Martha are apt to place prepara- 
tions for a fine dinner before preparation of the heart 



He Came Eating and Drinking . 39 

at the table of grace. When people treat us with a. 
hypocritical show of mere outward courtesy, we are 
apt to taint our own openness and honesty with a simi- 
lar sham courtesy. When men show their pride, arro- 
gance, or other sins openly before us, the fear of men 
is liable to seal our lips and infect our souls with moral 
cowardice. When open slights and malicious neglect 
wounds us, we are inclined to resent it with a revenge- 
ful spirit, with a reply of open or secret spitefulness. 
When men love us and honor us, we become only the 
more prone to selfish, conceited, or ambitious pleasure 
through such favors and kindnesses. These are dan- 
gers to guard against when we mingle with men. The 
enemies of Christ slandered Him, as though He had 
succumbed to some of these dangers; because He came 
eating and drinking, they reviled Him as a glutton 
and wine-bibber. But no accusation was ever more 
false. And no accusation of this or similar kind should 
find us guilty. 

The commonest acts of life, such as eating and drink- 
ing, Christ sanctified. "Whatsoever ye do in word 
or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving 
thanks to God and the Father by Him." "Whether 
therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all 
to the glory of God." He was holy in all He did; so 
we should be. He at all times sought to help, heal, 
uplift, purify, and save men; so should we. Therefore 
Christ never gave offense; and Paul bids us: "Give 
none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, 
nor to the Church of God: even as I please all men in 
all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit 



40 His Footsteps. 

of many, that they may be saved." To be sure, the 
Pharisees were offended, most deeply and bitterly, 
when Christ ignored their self-righteous, slavish ob- 
servances. But the fault was theirs, not Christ's. They 
took offense without cause. Sin is always offended 
at righteousness; self-righteousness can not admit true 
righteousness; moral slavishness will ever antagonize 
true Christian liberty. Christ came to loosen these 
chains, not to rivet them upon men, therefore they who 
were determined to retain the chains were offended at 
His efforts to free the souls of men. The same thing 
repeats itself to-day. But let us be sure that we follow 
indeed in the footsteps of Him whose word makes us 
truly free; let us put aside all seeking of our own profit, 
pleasure, indulgence. We dare give no man just 
cause of offense by word or deed. Woe unto the man, 
by whom offense comes. Some think themselves free 
and are still slaves of secret lusts, themselves taking 
offense at the true liberty, which freely foregoes many 
things, that it may prove helpful to the ignorant and 
weak. Then are we truly free, when we are complete 
masters of our appetites, and victors over the flesh; 
then do we follow Christ, Paul, and all true Christian 
exemplars, when we seek first of all and above all the 
salvation of men. "I keep under my body, and bring 
it into subjection." "I am made all things to all men, 
that I might by all means save some." The example 
of Christ was always helpful, and never hindered any 
man in the course of true righteousness. Paul fol- 
lowed Christ with wonderful success. We must follow 
both. 



He Came Eating and Drinking. 41 

The little things of life are like the little leaves and 
fruit on a mighty tree. Every good tree bringeth forth 
good fruit in its season. Every good heart, rooted 
deeply in Christ, will abound in the common surround- 
ings of life in little words and works thoroughly Christ- 
like. 



CHAPTER IV. 

NOT WHERE TO LAY HIS HEAD. 

IN Christ we have the perfect example of a life as 
independent of the earthly possessions which the 
world considers indispensable, as it is possible for 
man still remaining on this earth to be. And this is 
the substance of the example of Christ's poverty for 
us, that we have whatever we have as though we had 
it not. 

Jesus was always poor. He was born in a cavern 
stable, and humble swaddling clothes encased his 
infant limbs. His mother gave the offering of the 
poor at her purification in the temple. The flight into 
Egypt might have been very difficult, if it had not 
been for the gift of gold left by the Magi. In Xaza- 
reth Jesus lived as a poor boy, the foster-son of a 
humble carpenter. He Himself learned the trade 
(Mark G, 3). "In the cities the carpenters would be 
Greeks, and skilled workmen ; the carpenter of a pro- 
vincial village can only have held a very humble 
position and secured a very moderate competence" 
(Farrar). 

The last years of Jesus' life were passed in the same 
poverty. He had no place where to lay His head, 
no house or piece of land He could call His own. 
Capernaum was His own city, and He spent consid- 



The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have 
nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay 
His head. — Mat th. 8, 20. 



Not Where to Lay His Head. 43 

erable time there, but only in the houses of His friends. 
"We never hear that any of the beggars, who in even- 
Eastern country are so numerous and so importunate, 
asked Him for alms. Had they done so He might 
have answered with Peter, 'Silver and gold have I 
none, but such as I have that I give thee' " (Farrar). 
When the five thousand and when the four thousand 
were fed we catch a glimpse of His resources, five 
barley loaves and two fishes, two hundred pennies in 
the purse. When the temple tax was demanded at 
Capernaum, neither Christ nor Peter had the insig- 
nificant sum at hand. Jesus willingly accepted the 
ministrations of certain women who had received 
great blessings at His hand, Mary called Magdalene, 
Joanna, Susanna, and many others. Luke 8, 2. 3. 

Those who followed Jesus and were trained to con- 
tinue His work shared His poverty. Peter told the 
truth when he said, "Behold, we have forsaken all 
and followed Thee." Matt. 19, 27. It was not that 
they had given away all their earthly property, for 
John had a house at Jerusalem; but they had given 
up completely the enjoyment of the little property 
they possessed. They had forsaken it; it was as 
though they had it not. When Jesus sent out the 
twelve He ordered, "Provide neither gold nor silver, 
nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, 
neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves." They 
took only the clothes they had on; they could not 
have gone with less. To be sure, they had provisions 
which men saw not, the promise of Jesus, "The work- 
man is worthy of His meat." And when they returned, 
they had to confess that in all their journeyings they 



44 His Footsteps. 

never suffered want. The seventy received the same 
commission. "Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor 
shoes"; and this in spite of the fact that they were 
sent as sheep among wolves. The poverty in which 
the twelve and again the seventy were sent out to 
preach is undoubtedly a true picture of the poverty 
in which Jesus Himself traveled. 

And yet the picture of His poverty dare not be over- 
drawn. Jesus was no pauper; the depressing and 
crushing squalor of poverty was not the lot He chose. 
His necessities were always provided for; only at 
rare intervals hospitality refused to entertain Him, 
more frequently the stress of the multitude gave Him 
not time to eat. The little band He led had at least 
a purse and a treasurer, and there must have been 
something in the purse, two hundred pennies at one 
time, something to give to the poor occasionally, 
something also for Judas, the treasurer, to steal from 
time to time. There was enough to provide the lamb 
and other necessaries for the paschal feast, and very 
likely sufficient also to buy humble entertainment when 
travelling through Samaria. The poverty of Jesus was 
great, yet not excessive. He was no mendicant monk, 
no ragged and emaciated beggar. 

Jesus voluntarily chose a life of povertv. Though 
He was rich, He became poor, and made Himself of 
no reputation, and walked as a servant, yea, allowed 
Himself at last to be sold for the price of a slave. 
The kingdom of God was His concern, and all else 
necessary for His earthly subsistence was added unto 
Him. We cannot understand the poverty of Jesus 
aright without taking account of its motive and of its 



Not Where to Lay His Head. 45 

boundless secret resources. He became poor for our 
sake, because a life of poverty was the best for His 
work of redeeming our souls, because His independ- 
ence of earthly possessions was the example we 
needed, because boundless reliance on God's provision 
was the true wealth for Himself as man and for us. 
Even the poorest may turn to Him who was born in 
a stable, who grew uo in a carpenter's humble home, 
who afterward had not where to lay His head. Jesus, 
in all His poverty, never asked what He should eat 
or drink or wear on the morrow. No breath of anx- 
ious care disturbed His heart. When He was hungry 
after forty days of fasting amid temptation in the wil- 
derness He knew and trusted perfectly that His Father 
would provide for Him, and He refused to doubt that 
Father's care by seeking bread miraculously. The 
Father never left Him alone, as He tells us; we see 
how the Father provided for Him after the victory 
over the tempter, when angels ministered unto His 
hunger. All the resources of heaven were open for 
the Son of man; one word of His perfect prayer 
could draw from all the infinite stores of Him who 
owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He was inde- 
pendent of all the things of earth, because He was 
absolutely dependent on the Father. This independ- 
ence in dependence is the sum of His teaching for 
His disciples when they followed Him in His travels 
on earth, and for us when now we walk in His foot- 
steps. 

The gospels show with sufficient clearness that 
Christ does not teach or require absolute poverty for 
His followers. Zacchaeus did not need to give up all 



40 His Footsteps. 

His earthly possessions when he received the Savior 
into his heart. It was sufficient for him to give up all 
that he had obtained wrongfully, to make amends for 
his extortions, and to rid his heart of every trace of 
greed and love of money. The women who followed 
Jesus and ministered unto Him, and finally provided 
spices and ointments for His burial, retained their 
wealth. His friends in Bethany kept their home and 
all their home comforts, and still they remained ex- 
ceedingly dear to Him. Christ Himself in the parable 
of the pounds teaches that it is proper for us to have 
much when given us of God. Even the example of 
Christ shows Him submitting to be anointed with 
spikenard worth three hundred pence; and when He 
was buried, He received all the rich funeral provisions 
which love could supply. 

There is no contradiction between all this and His 
utterances against the rich, and His treatment of the 
rich young ruler; just as there is no contradiction 
between St. Paul's words, "Even so hath the Lord 
ordained that they which preach the gospel should 
live of the gospel," 1 Cor. 9, 14, and his own example, 
"Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have min- 
istered unto my necessities, and to them that were 
with me," Acts 20, 34, taking nothing from the people 
he ministered unto save a few gifts sent him by the 
Phiiippians. To kill the love of riches, and our de- 
pendence upon money, it may be necessary to take 
the heroic measure needful in the case of the rich 
young ruler, who was bidden to sell all that he had 
and give to the poor. It is better for a man to be 
borne aloft by angel-hands from poverty as distressing 



Not Where to Lay His Head. 47 

as that of Lazarus, than to be cast into torment after 
dining and dying in surroundings as luxurious as 
those of Dives. How powerful and insidious is the 
love of earthly property we see in the case of the 
young man who sorrowfully went his wav, because 
he could not and would not give up his great pos- 
sessions. It is this attachment to wealth which makes 
it impossible to attach the heart to God in true faith 
and trust, and thus to enter into the kingdom of God. 
And this attachment is only too often found holding 
fast even those who are counted among the poor. 
Their lust after wealth, their envy and discontent 
blocks the entrance of true faith as effectually as the 
greatest love of wealth revelling in luxurious posses- 
sion. The poor who are praised by Christ are peo- 
ple of a different sort; they may have much or little 
of earthly goods, their poverty is spiritual, a hunger 
after salvation. Those whose hearts hunger after 
wealth or are satiated by its fulness know nothing 
of the blessed poverty and hunger of the soul for the 
treasures of heaven. "Blessed be ye ooor, for yours 
is the kingdom of God." — "But woe unto you that 
are rich, for ye have received your consolation." 
"Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be 
filled." — "Woe unto you that are full for ye shall 
hunger." 

When the heart is attached only to God then the 
possession or non-possession of earthly wealth be- 
comes a matter of altogether secondary consideration ; 
then, like Christ, or like St. Paul, one may choose 
poverty, or prefer to work- without navment, since 
such a course mav suit one's aims best. The Christian 



48 His Footsteps. 

will be governed by his love for Christ and by the 
requirements of his service for Christ. When Christ 
bids, he will leave all, even what is more precious 
than money, and perform the Master's bidding in dis- 
tant heathen lands. He will ever be ready to choose 
the profession in which hccan serve his Savior best, 
without thinking of profit or loss. He will always 
prefer a location where he may enjoy the spiritual 
blessings of Christ, even though the temporal be 
diminished. In a word, when the heart is really inde- 
pendent of earthly possessions, it will freelv follow 
the promptings and commands of God. The only 
trouble is that many seek to serve both God and mam- 
mon; but the attempt at such semi-independence on 
both sides has always resulted in complete depend- 
ence either upon the one or upon the other. "No 
man can serve two masters: for either he will hate 
the one and love the other; or else he will hold to 
the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God 
and mammon." Matt. 6, 24. 

To be independent of earthlv possessions, and to 
have the heart completely dependent on God, is to 
be free from the anxious cares connected otherwise 
with the ownership and management of earthly goods. 
It is pitiful slavery to be dominated by the things we 
ourselves should dominate. It is a grievous burden 
to fear thieves and the ravages of moth and rust and 
other forms of loss. Let heathens trouble themselves 
about what they shall eat and wear when pantry and 
purse are empty. Let the world, if it will, worry out 
its life in chasing the transient treasures of earth. "Ye 
lust and ye have not; ve kill, and desire to have, and 



Not Where to Lay His Head. 49 

cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not, 
because ye ask not; ye ask and receive not, because 
ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." 
James 4, 2. 3. Serene contentment is the blessing of 
him who fixes his heart on God; the Lord knows 
what things we have need of, He careth and provideth 
for us, and in answer to our believing prayers will 
feed and clothe us as perfectly for our need as He 
feeds the birds and clothes the lilies. "Godliness with 
contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing 
into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing 
out. And having food and raiment, let us therewith 
be content. But they that will be rich fall into temp- 
tation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful 
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 
For the love of money is the root of all evil; which 
while some coveted after, they have erred from the 
faith, and pierced themselves through with many sor- 
rows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things,, 
and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love,. 
patience, meekness." 1 Tim. 6, 6-11. All true enjoy- 
ment of life and its earthly blessings is vitiated by 
discontent. An insatiable hunger will grow up by- 
feeding covetousness full day by day. The more 
greed develops the more will the higher faculties of 
the soul lose vitality, and finally be completely atro- 
phied. The miser starves at last amid his own mil- 
lions. What never-failing joy and free delight to know 
that the hand of God is over us and gives us day by 
day whatever we need! All the millions of earth are 
too poor to buy the sweetness of Christlike content- 
ment. 



50 His Footsteps. 

Only as we remain masters of our possessions and 
prevent them from overmastering us can we get out 
of our possessions what God would have us obtain. 
The Christian knows monev only as a means, never 
as an end, only as a servant, never as a master. One 
only is his Master, namely Christ. Into His service 
the Christlike man puts the servant, money, and not 
into the service of his own lusts, or ambitions, or fol- 
lies. Mammon is a poor paymaster, tnough he give 
us gold and silver in abundance, he sends us naked 
out of the world at last, poverty-stricken in soul 
and body forever. What does the hoarder of money 
gain? Nothing, absolutely nothing in the end! What 
does he gain who puts money into the service of his 
own flesh? Nothing, absolutely nothing in the end! 
"Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of 
thee: then whose shall those things be which thou 
hast provided?" 

A wonderful blessing lies hidden in money, and the 
Christlike man learns constantly how to secure the 
blessing. "Make to yourselves friends of the mam- 
mon of unrighteousness"; use it as a means to helo 
the needy and to break the bread of life to the spirit- 
ually destitute, and your money will bring you glorious 
returns. Use it as an instrument whereby love may 
go out and bless, and the love of God will come in 
and dwell with you. "But whoso hath this world's 
goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth 
up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth 
the love of God in him?" 1 John 3, 17. Be a faithful 
steward in administering the talents of earthlv treas- 
ures committed to vou, and far greater trust shall 



Not Where to Lay His Head. 51 

be committed to you. There is no science so rich 
in new discoveries to be made day by day as the study 
of Christian stewardship; and no art so full of sat- 
isfaction and blessed returns as the Christian mastery 
of money. Many make money a rope whereby they 
let themselves down into the eternal abyss; we must 
make it a ladder whereby to lift ourselves and others 
upward toward heaven. 

The self-righteous poverty of the many papal orders 
is just as un-Christlike as the self-righteous gifts among 
Romanists and Protestants. Gold and silver cannot 
do the least toward redeeming a sinful soul; nothing 
but Christ's blood suffices for that. But our souls are 
not perfectly free from the tyranny of sin, until the 
blood of Christ has bound us so completely to Him 
that all the ties of mammon are sundered. 



CHAPTER V. 

MEEK AND LOWLY IN HEART. 

THE supreme excellence of the God-man bore 
itself with supreme dignity, and yet this dignity 
was so totally free from haughtiness that some 
of its chief elements were meekness and lowliness of 
heart and a gracious condescension which turned not 
from the very lowest. 

To see the meekness, the affability, and kindliness 
of Jesus in its true light the tremendous claims must 
be recalled which He made for Himself and in accord 
with which He ever bore Himself. To the woman 
at the well near Sychar Christ declared Himself openly 
as the Messiah: "I that speak unto thee am He." 
John 4, 26. The blind man who returned unto Jesus 
after having been examined and rebuked by the Phar- 
isees, is asked: "Dost thou believe on the Son of 
God?" And when he asked: "Who is He, Lord, 
that I may believe on Him?" Jesus replied: "Thou 
hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with 
thee." John 9, 37. And Jesus received his worship. 

Again and again Jesus stated before His enemies 
that He was the Son of the Father in heaven. Into 
their very teeth He casts the declaration: "Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am." 
John 8, 58. The temple was almost idolized by the 




* I 



Meek and Lowly in Heart. 53 

Jews, but Jesus asserts: "I say unto you, That in 
this place is one greater than the temple." Matt. 12, 
6. In answering the evil and adulterous generation 
that sought for nothing but signs, He made a like 
declaration: "Behold, a greater than Solomon is here." 
Matt. 12, 42. And when tried at last before the wicked 
Jewish Council He confirmed with an oath that He 
was indeed Christ, the Son of the living God. 

The gospel accounts are full of the kingly utterances 
of Jesus. He taught as one having authority. "But 
I say unto you" comes from His lips repeatedly in the 
Sermon on the Mount, and all that He says strikes 
the heart with more than human power. "Verily, ver- 
ily, I say unto you," ushering in so many of His mighty 
declarations, is full of kingly, yea divine authority. 
His decisions are not merely given in a tone that is 
final, but in themselves bear the mark of finality ; His 
commands are royal, even the wind and the waters 
and all the forces of nature obey them, and the dem- 
ons dare not disregard. 

Jesus is never abashed, He never quails before men. 
He meets Nicodemus, one of the powerful members 
of the Jewish Council, with dignified calmness, and 
shrinks not from pointing out His lofty visitor's 
lamentable spiritual ignorance: "Art thou a master 
in Israel, and knowest not these things?" John 3, 10. 
In the midst of His enemies He calmly asserts His 
heavenly authority, and lays open their wickedness 
and relation to the devil. And even before Pilate in 
that last hour He proclaims Himself a matchless king 
and bears Himself as such. Herod, the tyrant, is 
treated by the great Sufferer as not worthy of a word. 



54 His Footsteps. 

Here indeed is supreme excellence and divine ma- 
jesty clothed in human form with a dignity more than 
royal. But there is no shadow of haughtiness or selfish 
pride. Never by word or deed does Christ seek His 
own honor; when men dishonor Him it is not so 
much the dishonor to Himself, as the dishonor to 
the Father who has sent Him, which He resents. 
There is no outward adornment of majestic apparel, 
no train of servile followers, no hedge of official ser- 
vants to guard approach to His person. Of all the 
countless forms and manifestations of human pride, 
not one is found in Christ. 

He is ever meek and lowly in heart, a servant of 
servants, never seeking the ministrations of others, 
but ever ministering to those about Him. For every 
little favor He receives He gives favors and blessings 
a hundredfold greater. Men may freely slisfht Him 
and wound Him and heap shame upon Him; He 
never reviles again when reviled, nor threatens when 
He suffers. He is the Lamb that opens not its mouth 
when led to the slaughter. The union of royal and 
divine dignity with this untold meekness and low- 
liness in the person of our Example is a miracle that 
outshines every one of His separate miraculous deeds. 

Proud kings sometimes affect humility and veil their 
haughtiness for selfish ends. But the lowliness of 
Jesus is untainted by even a shadow of affectation or 
hypocrisy. There is no false ring in the words from 
His own lips: "I am meek and lowly in heart." Matt. 
11. 29. Though He knew Himself to be greater, and 
higher, and purer, and mightier than all men, even 
the King of kings whose exaltation was at the right 



Meek and Lowly hi. Heart. 55 

hand of eternal power, yet He yielded Himself in per- 
fect obedience to the lowliness of the humblest service 
and the shame of the most humiliating- death. The 
secret of this mystery of majesty in humility and 
humility in majesty is the love of Christ which passeth 
understanding-. 

The divine majesty which walked among men in 
such wondrous meekness was full of the kindliest con- 
descension. And this virtue of the Master is the 
greater "because He knew all men, and needed not 
that any snould testify of man, for He knew what 
was in man." John 2, 25. All the dark and devious 
ways of man's heart lay open before His eyes. He 
knew perfectly the selfish desires, the insincere subter- 
fuges, the nerverted blindness and boastful ignorance, 
the secret impurity, wickedness, and hardness of heart 
in man. It was for this reason that "Jesus did not 
commit Himself unto them," that began to believe in 
Him in Jerusalem. John 2, 24. They lacked both 
the nobility and the humility that could follow in His 
footsteps. Yet He did not turn from men because 
He knew all the dark and winding ways which their 
tainted hearts loved. He came to seek and to save 
the lost, and stooped down to meet them with His 
infinite love and kindness that He might save and 
purify and ennoble them. His perfect knowledge of 
His own pure love and of man's impure selfishness 
makes this condescension a miracle of mercy. 

We find it shining in all His earthly life. It was 
surpassing condescension for the Son of God to walk 
as man among men, and for the sinless Son of man 
to minsrle with sinners and outcasts of heaven. The 



56 His Footsteps. 

manger in Bethlehem, the humble home in Xazareth, 
the carpenter's tools and toils, the poverty that knew 
not where to lay His head, the dust of Gethsemane, 
the cross of Golgatha, and the sepulchre of Joseph's 
garden are all marks of His humiliation, that is of 
His voluntary loving stooping down to these deeps 
and utter depths of humility for our sake. Every kind 
and loving word from His lips, every gracious deed 
of His hands, from the humblest labors in the silence 
of Xazareth to the mighty miracles amid the throngs 
of Capernaum, are every one an exhibition of con- 
descending love and lowly obedience to His Father. 
In some of the acts of Christ the meekness and low- 
liness of the greatest Lord and Master may appear 
more striking than in others; but while we dwell on 
these, the constant condescension that runs through 
all His life and stands ever beside His uninterrupted 
dignity dare not be lost sight of. With us dignity of 
action may alternate with condescension, nay the lack 
and loss of dignity and of condescension may alternate 
with imperfect returns to these qualities; but Christ 
is ever the same, never losing His pure kingliness 
of soul nor His loving lowliness of heart. 

The conversation with the sinful woman at the well 
near Sychar shows us the perfection of this conde- 
scending kindness whose one aim is to save and purify. 
I [e knows what is in the impure woman's heart. With 
a kind and yet steady hand He lays bare the evil to 
which she has succumbed. He meets her every turn 
and twist with which she seeks to escape. Yea. it is 
this unknown and unnamed woman of the Samaritans 
to whom He makes the first categorical announcement 



Meek and Lowly in Heart. 57 

that He is the Messiah. Was there ever greater con- 
descension? 

The scene in the house of Simon the Pharisee reveals 
the same infinite condescension. The purest of the 
pure stoops to the vilest of the vile; and this before 
the eyes of the proudest of the proud in all the land. 
Jesus permits the woman who is known as a sinner 
in the whole town to bathe His feet with her tears 
and to wipe them with her hair. He accepts her 
repentance and justifies her trust by forgiving her 
sins. He takes the part of this social outcast against 
the supercilious self-righteousness and uncharitable 
condemnation of the host and guests with whom He 
sits at meat. He holds up her humble love in glaring 
contrast to the lovelessness of Simon: "Seest thou 
this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest 
me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my 
feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her 
head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman, 
since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my 
feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but 
this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment." 
Luke 7, 44-46. Where shall we find such dignity 
clothed with such kindness and gracious love? 

And this is no isolated instance. It is repeated 
again and again in Christ's treatment of publicans and 
sinners. "Verily, I say unto you, That the publicans 
and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before 
you." Matt. 21, 31. The Syro-Phenecian woman is 
not turned away, although esteemed a dop- among 
the Jews. The repentant malefactor on the cross, suf- 
fering what his criminal deeds had deserved, is not 



58 His Footsteps. 

merely comforted, but received into. Paradise with 
Abraham and the greatest saints. All the life of Christ 
is full of saving kindness toward sinners. 

It was this same kindness of heart which sympa- 
thized with John in prison and sent Him an answer 
to strengthen his soul in the hour of trouble and for 
the hour of death. Its unfailing gentleness bore pa- 
tiently all the foolish ignorance of the disciples and 
wearied not in steadily instructing them ; which grew 
not discouraged at their persistent fleshly notions of 
the kingdom and their ambitious desires for a lofty 
place in that kingdom, but continued in the arduous 
task of planting spiritual conceptions into their hearts. 

One of the most beautiful examples of the meekness 
of the God-man is His love for children. "He took 
a child and set him in the midst of the disciples, 
and when He had taken him in His arms, He said 
unto them : Whosoever shall receive one of such chil- 
dren in my name, receiveth me." He stood in the 
midst of little ones, brought unto Him by loving 
mothers, and rebuked the disciples for seeking to pre- 
vent them, and blessed the little lads and maids, and 
invited them all to come unto Him. Children, with 
their loving, trustful hearts stand so high in His affec- 
tion, that He makes childlike faith the model for 
adults, and shields them against the offenses of men 
by the awful threat: "Whoso shall offend one of these, 
little ones which believe in me, it were better for him 
that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and 
that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." The 
eternal Son of God condescends to babes and suck- 
lings. 






Meek and Lowly in Heart. 59 

Perhaps the finest portrayal of all this loving, saving 
condescension of Jesus is found in His own parable 
concerning the lost sheep. The ninety and nine are 
left in the wilderness while the shepherd seeks the 
one that is lost. The length of the weary way, the 
steeps and cliffs, the brambles and thorns cannot keep 
Him back. And at last the torn and bruised and bleed- 
ing little lamb is lifted on His shoulders and borne 
back to the flock and the fold. 

He who is full of such meekness and lowliness of 
heart is ever open and approachable even to the meek- 
est, the most backward, and bashful. Any and all 
are free to come to Him. He repels no advance how- 
ever humble; whoever comes to Him shall in no 
wise be cast out. There is no sorrow of heart which 
He does not understand and for which He has no 
healing balm. Even in the midst of His agony of 
suffering He forgets not Peter in the hour of his 
greatest weakness, nor His mother in the crushing 
distress of her grief. Here is the light of the glory 
of His condescending meekness and love. "Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden," holds 
good even on the way to Gethsemane and to Calvary. 

The infinite compassion of the Son of God is 
equalled only by the perfect meekness and conde- 
scension of the Lord of lords in the form of a servant. 
And we are to follow in His footsteps. 

"And there was also a strife among them, which 
of them should be accounted the greatest." And this 
was when they were gathered for the last supper. 
"And He said unto them: The kings of the Gentiles 
exercise lordship over them ; and they that exercise 



60 His Footsteps. 

authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye 
shall not be so; but he that is greatest among you, 
let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he 
that doth serve." 

"So after He had washed their feet, and had taken 
His garments, and was set down again, He said unto 
them: know ye what I have done to you? Ye call 
me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your 
feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For 
I have given you an example, that ye should do as 
I have done to you." 

The lowest is the highest; the humblest the greatest; 
self-forgetful service Christlike excellence; childlike 
meekness Christlike dignity; and shame among men 
glory before God. This is the law of the kingdom 
established by divine excellence in the form of lowliest 
condescension. 

For the Son of God equality with God was no rob- 
bery; but the Son of man, the man Christ Jesus, who 
is our example, knew one greater than Himself, namely 
the Father in heaven, whose will and work He came 
to execute. As followers of Christ we are, like Him, 
to have but one master above us, Christ Jesus Him- 
self, whose will and work is our only law. "Be not 
ye called Rabbi; for one is your Master, even Christ; 
* * * And call no man your father upon earth; 
for one is your Father, which is in heaven; neither 
be ye called masters, for one is your Master, even 
Christ. But he that is greatest among vou shall be 
your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall 



Meek and Lowly in Heart. 61 

be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall 
be exalted." Matt. 23, 8-12. 

Christ, the perfect, sinless Son of man, was far above 
all men who dwelt on earth. "Ye call me Master and 
Lord; and ye say well, for so I am." John 13, 13. 
And yet He who was the Head and King and Master 
of all made Himself of no reputation, became our 
brother, walked among us as one of us, yea humbled 
Himself, and with all His blessed gifts and abilities 
became the servant of all. There will always be a di- 
versity among Christ's followers, some will be blessed 
with ten, some only with one or two talents. And 
yet "all ye are brethren." None may lord it over 
another because his gifts are greater or his earthly 
position higher. Brotherly love, brotherly service, 
equalizes all these differences. Christlike condescen- 
sion abolishes pride, arrogance, self-willed and tyran- 
nical presumption on the one hand, mean servility, 
slavish humiliation, beggarly cringing on the other 
hand. Every member has need of every other mem- 
ber in the holy body of Christ, and none dare despise 
or reject the other, lest the body be rent in twain and 
all the members suffer by the disruption. The greater 
the gifts, the greater the service due, and the meeker 
and lowlier he who renders that service. 

Paul and Peter knew nothing of the popish spirit. 
"Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but 
are helpers of your joy." 2 Cor. 1, 24. The greatest 
of the apostles rendered the greatest service to the 
churches, and with all his strength he opposed the 
spirit that exalted one teacher over another and 
boasted of Paul over against Apollos and Cephas, or 



62 His Footsteps. 

of one of these over against Paul. "For while one 
saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; 
are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is 
Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as 
the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos 
watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither 
is he that planteth anv thing, neither he that watereth ; 
but God that giveth the increase." 1 Cor. 3, 4-7. 
Therefore: "Be of the same mind one toward an- 
other. Mind not high things, but condescend to men 
of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits." 
Rom. 12, 16. 

The godly widow's contribution of her mite must 
not be ranked lower than the godly millionaire's con- 
tribution of a million. The repentant malefactor must 
be received equally with the repentant apostle. The 
black-skinned Ethiop is no less worthy of angel-ser- 
vice than the chosen sons of Abraham themselves. 
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond 
nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye 
are all one in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3, 28. And because 
we are all one, let us in honor prefer one another, in 
lowliness and meekness serve one another. 

The high and proud of the earth lift themselves up 
on lofty pedestals, and to approach them one must 
climb through entrance gates and ante-rooms and 
ranks of guards and lackeys. Christ gave Himself 
freely to all men; so must we to all who seek us in 
their need. The haughty of the earth shrink from 
touching the abased, lest they defile their hands. 
Christ condescended to help the lowliest and most 
despised among men. So must we who follow in 



Meek and Lowly in Heart. 63 

His steps. There is Christlike nobleness in the hum- 
blest service crowned by His love. 

Christlike lowliness and condescension will be slan- 
dered and abused. The Pharisees heaped words of 
shame on Him who permitted a harlot to touch His 
feet and who sat at Levi's table. Because He served 
others and not Himself, they wagged their heads be- 
neath the cross and reviled Him: "Himself He can- 
not help." But Christ's lowliness and condescension 
remained unchanged. He reviled not again, but sim- 
ply said: The sick need a physician. Let Christian 
condescension bear as its crown and glory the slanders 
of men. "Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye 
have done it unto one of the least of these my breth- 
ren, ye have done it unto me." Matt. 25, 40. 

But as Christ lost none of His dignity when He 
kindly stooped down to men of low estate; so our true 
dignity as pure followers of Christ must be kept unsul- 
lied in all our intercourse with men whether high 
or low. The stains of the stained dare not be trans- 
ferred to us in our dealings with them. The holv 
standards of truth and righteousness dare not be low- 
ered for the accommodation of those who are below 
them. Christ yielded nothing to the ignorance of 
Nicodemus nor to the sins of Zacchseus; and neither 
dare we. He reached out the condescending hand 
of love to lift the one up to the hight of saving truth 
and knowledge, and the other to the hill of holiness 
and righteousness in life; so may we reach out our 
hands to lift the ignorant and sinful, but dare not 
let them drag us down a single step into ignorance 
or sin. 



64 His Footsteps. 

Our dignity is our adoption as children of God in 
Christ Jesus, as sons of God through faith in the Son; 
our lowliness is love for the brethren and charity to- 
ward all men. The two are ever together as the sun 
and the rays of light it sends out. 

The battle against the flesh will have to be fought 
daily by all who follow Christ in His meekness and 
lowliness of heart. 




/ must work tlie works of Him that sent me, while it is day: 
the night cometh, ivlieu no imin can work.— Jo/in 9, 4. 



CHAPTER VI. 

WHILE IT IS DAY. 

THE day of Christ's work was brief, including only 
the last three years of His life on earth, but while 
this day lasted He wrought with tireless zeal, 
with unflagging energy, with marvellous diligence, and 
with secret but absolute success. "Not slothful in. 
business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord," must be 
our motto in the footsteps of the greatest and most 
diligent Servant of God. 

The task confronting Jesus, when He left the quiet 
of Nazareth, was the preaching of the kingdom 
throughout the entire land of Judaea and Galilee, the 
training of twelve men to be His especial followers 
and His apostles after His own death, and the working 
of the promised miracles before the eyes of men every- 
where for the substantiation of His claims as the M es- 
siah. The time allotted to this work was brief, only 
about three years; and yet it was not too brief, it was: 
just long enough. It is the divine way not to begin 
too soon, not to take more time than necessary, and to 
use unto perfection every moment with its golden op- 
portunities. And yet sometimes it seems that God 
delays; but the trouble is with us who fail to compre 
hend His plans and workings. When a child looks at 
a watch, some wheels seem to be idle, and yet every 



66 His Footsteps. 

piece of the mechanism is doing its perfect part in 
marking the minute and the hour. 

The four gospels give us little more than select and 
scattered incidents from the work-a-day life of Christ. 
And yet here and there we perceive how tremendously 
heavy was the burden of labor resting upon Christ. 
The mere physical exertion required was such that a 
common man would have been unable to stand the 
ceaseless strain. When then we add the taxing of the 
mental faculties, and the labors laid upon the soul in 
the ever-recurring, trying experiences with disciples 
and people and leaders of the people, it becomes clear 
that no man on earth ever undertook and executed 
such a stupendous amount of work as did the man 
Christ Jesus. 

Mark describes a Sabbath day's work of Christ. 
Jesus and His followers came from the shores of the 
Sea of Galilee into Capernaum. It was on a Sabbath 
morning, and "straightway" Jesus wended His way to 
the synagogue. Here He taught the assembled mul- 
titude from the fulness of the truth that filled His heart, 
and all men were astonished. But amid the crowd in 
the synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit. 
He soon raised a disturbance, crying out about Jesus; 
•Christ rebuked and then healed him, and the people 
were amazed at what they saw in addition to what they 
"had heard. 

But this was only the beginning of Christ's labor 
for the day. "Forthwith, when they were come out of 
the synagogue," Jesus accompanied Simon, Andrew, 
James, and John to Simon's house, where the mother- 
in-law of the latter lay sick of the fever. A second 



While it is Day. 67 

miracle was wrought, and Jesus at last received some- 
thing to refresh and nourish Him. The day was now 
nearly gone, but no sooner did the sun set, ending 
the Jewish Sabbath day proper, than the whole city 
began to stir. Every sick person and those who were 
possessed hastened to Simon's door. A pressing 
throng filled all the street, and Jesus went to work and 
healed "many that were sick of divers diseases, and 
cast out many devils." This must have gone on far 
into the night. At last, at a late hour, tired and spent, 
Jesus lay down to rest. But He did not sleep long; 
while the household was still locked in deepest slum- 
ber, while the strong fishermen were still lying prone, 
exhausted by the mighty experiences of the past day, 
Jesus, "rising up a great while before day, went out, 
and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." 
The morning dawn did not find Him on a bed of ease, 
but drawing strength from on high for another day's 
work. 

At last Simon and others found Jesus and told Him 
what was awaiting Him at the city: "All men seek 
for thee." Half the town was already before Simon's 
door. But Jesus refused to return: "Let us go into 
the next towns," was His answer, "that I may preach 
there also; for therefore came I forth." The labors of 
the previous day were to be repeated day after day in 
town after town. "And He preached in their syna- 
gogues throughout all Galilee and cast out devils." 
And when a leper whom He had healed published the 
miracle and blazed it abroad, Jesus was so thronged 
that He could not enter the city, but had to spend day 



68 His Footsteps. 

and night in desert places, sleeping perhaps on the bare 
earth, "and they came to Him from every quarter.'" 

This is a sample of Christ's work, the hardest, most 
taxing and trying work, and an endless amount of it. 

In reading the gospel accounts of Christ's preach- 
ing, teaching, and healing we must not fail to note the 
brief phrases that open up for our eyes at ever}' turn 
long vistas into His overwhelming labors. Every 
miracle must be multiplied a thousand fold; every inci- 
dent repeated in manifold variations. As John tells 
us: "There are many other things which Jesus did, 
the which, if they should be written every one, I sup- 
pose that even the world itself could not contain the 
books that should be written." John 21, 25. 

Some days after the Sabbath described above Jesus 
entered Capernaum, "and straightway many were 
gathered together, insomuch that there was no room 
to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: 
and He preached the Word unto them,'' Mark 2, 2. 
"And He went forth again by the seaside, and all the 
multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught diem." 
Mark 2, 13. "Jesus withdrew Himself with His dis- 
ciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee 
followed Him, and from Judaea, and from Jerusalem, 
and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan; and they 
about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they 
had heard what great things He did, came unto Him. 
And He spake unto His disciples that a small ship 
should wait on Him because of the multitude, lest they 
should throng Him. For He had healed many, inso- 
much that they pressed upon Him for to touch Him, as 
many as had plagues. And unclean spirits, when they 



While it is Day. 69 

saw Him, fell down before Him and cried, saying, 
Thou art the Son of God." Mark 3, 7-11. "And they 
went into a house; and the multitude cometh together 
again, so that they could not so much as eat bread." 
Yea, His friends and relatives became alarmed, they 
feared that the terrific strain of labor would crush Him ; 
they said: "He is beside Himself." Mark 3, 19-21. 
In fact, the only way in which Jesus could preach to 
and teach this overwhelming throng was from a boat 
in the sea. Mark 4, 1. And to this labor of public 
speaking came the no less trying labor of privately "ex- 
pounding all things to His disciples." 

For days at a time it was almost impossible for Christ 
to be alone even with the disciples. "He said unto 
them" on one occasion, "Come ye yourselves apart 
into a desert place, and rest a while; for there were 
many coming and going, and they had no leisure so 
much as to eat." Mark 6, 31. And even these at- 
tempts to secure a little privacy, rest, and food, to say 
nothing of sleep, proved unavailing. "The people saw 
them departing, and many knew Him and ran afoot 
thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came 
together unto Him." And when Jesus reached the 
place where He expected quiet, lo, He "saw much 
people," and His labors began afresh. 

There was then no help for it, "He began to teach 
them many things" till the day was far spent," and the 
disciples begged Him to send the crowd away, i~or the 
place was desert. But Jesus forgot Himself and His 
weariness and need of food and rest. He went to work 
and fed their bodies as He had fed their souls, and as 
we may judge from the narrative, partook of a little 



70 His Footsteps. 

bread and fish Himself only after all the people had 
eaten. 

We know how vital a thing it is, even for those who 
do only the commonest labor constantly, to be fed 
regularly and amply, and to sleep in restful homes and 
congenial surroundings. But again and again we are 
told, there was no time for Jesus even to eat. He 
snatched what He could here and there. Yea, He even 
put away food when hungry, that He might work. 
After a long tramp to the well near Sychar, Jesus con- 
versed with the woman who came to draw water, and 
when His disciples returned with food from the city and 
begged Him, saying: "Master, eat," He answered: 
"I have meat to eat that ye know not of." When the 
disciples wondered among themselves: "Hath any 
man brought Him aught to eat?" He replied: "My 
meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to 
finish His work." John 4, 34. Indeed, work was 
His daily bread, often the only bread He received. 

Jesus knew no home life after His great work-day 
began. It is literally true, "He had not where to lay 
His head." His constant travels brought Him to a 
new place nearly every night. Only too often there 
was no restful place for sleep, only too often night 
found Him in the desert, on the mountain, away from 
the habitations of men. And even when near a town, 
He frequently did not enter because of His enemies, 
but slept outside. There was only too much necessity 
for the kind offices of the women of whom Luke writes 
that they followed Him and ministered unto His needs. 

Never did man labor with such diligence, with such 
devotion, with such self-forgetfulness, and with such 



While it is Day. 71 

absolute self-denial, as did this Master-workman, the 
Son of man. And the meaning of all this wonderful 
work for us who follow Christ's footsteps is even what 
He Himself tells us: "Ye know that they which are 
accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship 
over them; and their great ones exercise authority 
upon them. But so shall it not be among you; but 
whosoever will be great among you, shall be your min- 
ister; and whosoever of you will be chiefest, shall be 
servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to 
be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His 
life a ransom for many." Mark 10, 42-45. 

We can not measure the full depth of self-sacrificing 
compassion with which Christ thus labored for the 
lost house of Israel. Nor can we fathom the trying 
sorrow that mingled with this love and its labors, when 
men rewarded it with ingratitude, as did nine of the ten 
healed lepers, or with hatred, as did the leaders of the 
people. Their bitter resentment, their constant dog- 
ging of His steps and attempts at catching Him in 
His speech placed a peculiarly distressing burden upon 
Him who already bore so much. 

The joy of outwardly successful labor and its sweet, 
cheering, and uplifting fruit was not for Christ. He 
wept over Jerusalem for which He had labored so 
much; He pronounced a painful woe upon Capernaum 
and Bethsaida where many of His mightiest works 
had been wrought; He groaned in spirit at the grave 
of Lazarus where so many of His haters were assem- 
bled; He had the prospect of untold suffering and 
agony as the earthly outcome and end of His labors. 
Even in His disciples there was but little to cheer Him 



72 His Footsteps. 

in His work. "We hear the complaint of His heart in 
the touching words: "Have I been so long time with 
you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?" 
Again and again we are told, that they understood 
Him not, and Christ had to bear with them and their 
foolish ignorance, treading alone His laborious path. 

And yet we would fail to understand the work of 
Jesus, if we should look only at its earthly side and at 
those circumstances which rendered it heavy, difficult, 
and depressing beyond measure. In fact, this work 
would have been an utter impossibility if its earthly 
side had been its only side. No; there is another side, 
there is an inward secret side which, when we behold 
it, shows us not only how it was possible, but also 
what was the true glory and divine excellence of this 
work. 

Look at the wonderful unity of all the countless la- 
bors of the great Servant of God. There is one aim 
and one purpose in every word and deed from begin- 
ning to end. There is a divine perfection in every part 
of these marvellous labors, a perfection which no man 
could mar, however much he might try. Every word 
and deed was absolutely true to the one purpose that 
rilled the heart of Jesus. And therefore, in spite of 
apparent outward failure, the work of Christ was ever 
absolutely successful. "It is finished," means more 
than that the attempts of Christ are ended, it is the seal 
of perfect completion, of absolute and eternal achieve- 
ment. When Christ bowed His head in death, His 
work was complete, it lacked not one iota. As the 
work of creation produced a flawless result concerning 
which God could say in its totality and every detail: 



While it is Day. 73 

"It is very good," so also is the work of redemption 
and all that the God-man wrought in Hrs earthly life, 
all of it and every part of it, "very good." 

And the secret of it all is the divine love with which 
Christ labored, a love which did the will of the Father 
in everything and absolutely, speaking only what it 
heard of the Father (Jno. 8, 26 and 28; 12, 49 and 50), 
and doing only what it saw the Father do (Jno. 5, 19). 
He who labored thus could indeed say at last with 
divine joy and satisfaction, contemplating what had 
been wrought: "Father, I have finished the work 
which Thou gavest me to do." John 17, 4. In so far 
as any man really does the work which the Father has 
given him to do, in so far he is truly successful, in so 
far he may rejoice with abiding joy. 

This secret of Christ's work and life is the vital thing 
for all who attempt to follow in His steps. Then and 
then only is our work Christlike, when it is filled with 
the love of Christ and the Father, and when it is con- 
trolled completely by the will of the Father, which is 
the will of Christ. When we do and say at all times 
what we have seen of the Master, then will all our work 
and words bear the imprint of Christ, and be both per- 
fect and truly successful. 

But here is the crucial point. Men put self where 
Christ put His Father. Men let the flesh and the de- 
sire of the flesh control their labor and their life, where 
Christ obeyed only the Father's will. Men work for 
their own pleasure, honor, enrichment, and selfish sat- 
isfaction where Christ wrought for the glory of the 
Father and ministered unto others. Work has been 
highly exalted in our day, but it sits on the throne of 



74 His Footsteps. 

self and rules with the scepter of self and knows no 
law and no crown but self. 

Men still speak of "callings", but they seldom ask: 
For what has God fitted me, and what would God have 
me do? They let earthly gain call them, and shut their 
ears to the call of God. And yet God has a call for 
every man on earth, a place where He would have him 
stand, a work which He would give him to do. and a 
success which He would grant as the fruit of his faith- 
ful labors. As the God-man had His life's work 
planned by the Father, so every godly man has his life 
planned in the calling meant for him by the mind of 
God. To be sure, some are called for higher work and 
some for lower; the gifts of God differ greatly. But 
no man is overlooked or forgotten. 

There is but one aim and end in all Christlike call- 
ings and labors, the glory of God in the service of men, 
Even servants and slaves, the lowliest of the low, are 
admonished: "Be obedient to them that are your 
masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling 
and singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with 
eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of 
Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with 
good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men : 
knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, 
the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether lie be 
bond or free." Fph. G, 5-8. And there is no man so 
gifted or so high but that the same admonition applies 
to him. As all our calling should be chosen and per- 
formed for God's glory in man's service, so every part 
of it dav bv dav. 



While it is Day. 75 

There is much diligence in the world, an endless 
amount of zeal and enthusiasm. But none of it is 
Christlike, except that which looks to Christ for its in- 
spiration, guidance, success, and reward. What a 
revolution would take place in the busy world of to-day, 
if this principle of Christlikeness would leaven it 
throughout. Like shadows of the night all the troubles 
of labor and capital and all the secret griefs and com- 
plaints of those who lie stricken beneath the blight of 
selfishness would disappear before this divine power, 
if once admitted into all the world of work. 

But even though the world as such abides in godless- 
ness, every worker who takes Christ into his heart and 
work' will thereby be lifted Christward ana crowned 
with a joy, a success, and reward which the world can 
never know, though its achievements rise a thousand 
times higher than the tower of Babel. 

There is a success which looks like failure. Christ 
died having only a handful of scattered followers, and 
all His foes thought He had labored in vain. So we 
may die in the footsteps of Jesus without seeing the 
godly success of our Christlike work, but the day of 
eternal rewards will make it plain. No man can fail 
who keeps his eyes on the Master, and does what that 
Master gives him to do. Every man is bound to fail 
who shuts his eye to Christ, and works apart from Him. 
There is no success in heaven and earth except in 
Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THY WILL, NOT MINE. 

LL the chapters in the life of Jesus may be 
ranged under the heading: "Thy will be 
done." His will coincided absolutely with that 
of the Father, and so now should ours. 

It is St. John especially who delineates this perfect 
submission of the will of Jesus to the will of the 
Father. Like a golden thread the thought runs 
through chapter after chapter of John's gospel. Al- 
though Christ's word concerning the business of His 
Father to which He must bend His will and life is 
not recorded by John, nor the repeated prayer of 
Christ in His agony in Gethsemane, there is so much 
of similar import in the fourth gospel, that many will 
be surprised when for the first time they pass it in 
review. 

The fact, that Christ's will was ever in perfect har- 
mony with the Father's has its deep foundation. "I 
and my Father are one," Christ declares unto the 
unbelieving Jews; and again: "The Father is in me, 
and I am in Him." The sense of these declarations 
is perfectly plain. For Christ asks the blind whom 
He had restored to sight, "Dost thou believe on the 
Son of God?" and replies to the question, "Who is 
He?" "Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that 




O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. 
nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt. — Matth. 26, 



Thy Will, Not Mine. 77 

talketh with thee." The divinity of Christ shines 
through the gospel of John like sunlight in fullest 
radiance. Because Jesus is the eternal Son of God, 
therefore, His will is the Father's will. "Ye shall 
know that I am in my Father," therefore there could 
be no conflict or disagreement between the two. 

But we are led a step further. The Son who is "one 
with the Father was sent of God into the world. This 
sending was realized in the incarnation. Yet the Son, 
when sent, was still the Son and none other; the 
Son, when clothed in flesh and rejected of men, was 
still one with the Father. Again and again Christ 
declares: "The Father hath sent me"; "The living 
Father hath sent me"; "I come in my Father's name"; 
"I am from Him, and He hath sent me"; "I pro- 
ceeded forth and came from God, neither came I of 
myself, but He sent me"; I am He "whom the Father 
hath sanctified and sent into the world." He appeals 
to the testimony of the Baptist, to the mighty works 
He was doing, to the truth and the power of the doc- 
trine He was teaching, in proof of His being sent by 
the Father. That men may know and believe that He 
is thus sent is the great object of His exertions. For 
"this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom 
He hath sent." At Lazarus' grave He prays: "That 
they may believe that Thou hast sent me." For "this 
is life eternal that they might know Thee the only 
true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent." 
And Christ's heart is full of praise that His disciples 
"have known surely that I came out from Thee, and 
they have believed that Thou didst send me." And 
His heart longs and prays in that last hour: "That 



78 His Footsteps. 

the world may believe that Thou hast sent me"; "and 
that the world may know that Thou hast sent me." 

Tremendous stress is laid by Christ on the fact, that 
the Father has sent Him. And this stress is not for 
naught, it is the very rock of the whole work of 
salvation; it is at once the cause of all that Christ 
did', and the guarantee and proof of its absolute agree- 
ment with the will of God. He came not of Himself; 
and God Himself testified thrice from heaven that He 
was well-pleased with Him whom He had sent. 

A third step takes us still further. The Son, who 
was one with the Father, and sent by the Father, had 
all things placed at His disposal by the Father. "The 
Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into 
His hands." "All things that the Father hath are 
mine." Notable parts of this gift are especially re- 
ferred to: "As the Father raiseth up the dead and 
quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom 
He will." "Thou hast given Him power over all 
flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as 
Thou hast given Him." "As the Father hath life in 
Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life 
in Himself." "The* Father judgeth no man, but hath 
committed all judgment unto the Son." The reason 
for this transfer of all things into the hands of Christ 
is the mission for which He was sent. Heaven and 
earth were placed at His disposal to do with as He 
willed. Twelve legions of angels stood prepared to 
hasten down at His beck; the stones lay ready to 
cry out, if He should desire. Disease, death and 
demons obeyed His slightest word. There is no check 
or restraint anywhere — "all things" precludes excep- 



Thy Will, Not Mine. 79 

tion. But this fact, which John's gospel especially 
keeps bringing up again and again before our eyes, 
gives wonderful emphasis to the unity of will between 
Christ and the Father. All things in Christ's hand — 
the Father knew absolutely that His will would be 
done. All things in Christ's hand — but no thought 
in Christ's heart with reference to the slightest thing 
apart from the Father's will. 

He who was one with the Father, sent by the Father, 
and placed over all things by the Father, does nothing 
of His own accord or for His own separate pleasure. 
"I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear I judge: 
and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine 
own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent 
me." "I came down from heaven not to do mine 
own will, but the will of Him that sent me." "I must 
work the works of Him that sent me while it is day." 
His works He does "in His Father's name," not in 
His own. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son 
can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the 
Father do; for what things soever He doeth, these 
also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth 
the Son and sheweth Him all things that Himself 
doeth." And in Gethsemane we hear the prayer, 
Father, not my will but Thine be done. Thus with 
great fulness the absolute harmony between the will 
of Christ and of the Father is declared. The Son 
cannot do anything of Himself as separate from the 
Father's will; He looks ever to the Father, and does 
only what the Father shows and bids Him. Therefore 
too, Christ is not alone: The Father is with me, I 



80 His Footsteps. 

in Him and He in me, in spite of the veil of flesh and 
the shadow of humiliation. 

As with the doing so with the saying. Christ calls 
Himself "a man that hath told you the truth which 
I have heard of God." "I speak that which I have 
seen with my Father." "I have not spoken of myself, 
but the Father which sent me, He gave me a com- 
mandment what I should say, and what I should speak. 
And I know that this commandment is life everlasting ; 
whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said 
unto me, so I speak." And when Christ has nearly 
finished His speaking on earth He turns to the Father: 
"I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest 
me"; "I have given them Thy word." And even in 
the promise of the Comforter Christ tells His dis- 
ciples: "He shall receive of mine and shall shew it 
unto you"; but straightway adds: "All things that 
the Father hath are mine, therefore said I that He 
shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you." As 
in His works so in His words He who is one with 
the Father shows that His will is one with that of 
the Father. 

The idea of deviating in the least from the Father's 
will is therefore instantly and peremptorily rejected 
by Christ. When the tempter showed Christ a dif- 
ferent course from that of the Father's will, a course 
without the cross, with all the world at His feet, the 
answer comes indignantly: Get thee behind me, 
Satan. When Peter at Christ's announcement of the 
coming passion takes Him aside and urges upon Him : 
"Be it far from thee. Lord; this shall not be unto 
Thee!" we hear the same reply: "Get the behind me, 



Thy Will, Not Mine. 81 

Satan; thou art an offense unto me; for thou savorest 
not the things that be of God, but those that be of 
men." Whenever His one work of doing His Father's 
business and will is interfered with, He asks full of 
reproach: "How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled?" 
"Shall I not drink the cup of my heavenly Father?" 
in other words: Shall I not do my Father's will? 
And though that will required the most painful sacri- 
fice at Christ's hands, the Son, obedient even unto 
death, did not falter for an instant. Though drops of 
blood were pressed from His agonized brow, though 
soul and body quivered on the verge of death, the 
prayer is ever the same: "Not my will, but thine be 
done!" And without a single lapse it was done, and 
the work triumphantly completed which the Father 
had given the Son to do. 

He who never even harbored the thought of devia- 
ting from the Father's will, was so devoted to the 
doing of that will with all His soul and strength that 
everywhere and at all times He sought not His own 
glory and advancement, but only the glory of the 
Father. "I seek not mine own glory: there is one 
that seeketh and judgeth," He tells the Jews. And 
at last in words of prayer He declares: "I have glori- 
fied Thee on the earth ; I have finished the work which 
Thou gavest me to do." And this mighty purpose 
of glorifying none but the Father by His every word 
and deed, makes the submission of Christ's will to 
the Father's complete. There is no shadow of selfish 
desire or longing; there is not the slightest trace of 
compulsion or unwillingness; there is nothing but 
absolute love and devotion, rendered with the most 



82 His Footsteps. 

perfect freedom, joy, and rapture. Xot that the Son 
should not be glorified in turn; only this, no glorifica- 
tion while in His humiliation; He made Himself of 
no reputation while He bore the burden of our sin. 
While He dwelt in lowliness, His yielding of all glory 
was His glory. When at last the hour of "It is fin- 
ished" drew nigh, the moment of glorification came: 
"O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self with 
the glory which I had with Thee before the world 
was." "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted (glo- 
rified) Him and given Him a name which is above 
every name." Now the God-man dwells in everlasting 
joy; and soon all eyes shall behold His majestic 
throne. 

As the needle ever points northward, so the soul 
of Christ looks ever to the Father's will. That will 
is the one purpose of His life, so supreme that none 
other is found beside it. Behold, the servant faithful 
in all things. He hath left nothing undone that He 
should have done and did nothing that He should 
not have done. Follow ye in His footsteps. 

For us thus to pursue the submission of Christ's 
will to that of the Father clear back to His essential 
oneness with the Father and onward unto the glory 
He now holds with the Father, may seem irrelevant 
when the chief object of study is our imitation of 
Christ's submission. And yet we have not gone too 
far, for the submission and obedience of our will must 
rest on a like foundation and proceed to a like end. 

If our will is to coincide with that of Christ, we 
and I Ic must be one. as He and the Father were one. 
They were essentially one, we must be one by faith 



Thy Will, Not Mine. 83 

and love. "I am in my Father, and ye in me, and 
I in you," are Christ's own words concerning this one- 
ness; and again we hear them from His lips: "As 
Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also 
may be one in us"; "I in them, and Thou in me, that 
they may be made perfect in one." The carnal mind 
will ever be at enmity with God, setting its will against 
that of Christ. The unregenerate will is a slave of 
sin and in complete bondage, when it comes to doing 
the will of God. It is God, therefore, who worketh 
in us to will in accord with His will. When the Spirit 
of God enters our hearts and removes sin's curse and 
power, and gives new life and a renewed will, and 
makes our heart one with Christ by the faith which 
embraces Him and all His gifts and by the love which 
lays itself and all it has at His feet, then indeed we 
will do the will of Christ, as He did the Father's will. 
But this leads us on to say respecting ourselves, that 
Christ sends us who are one with Him, even as the 
Father sent Him. "As Thou hast sent me into the 
world, even so have I also sent them into the world." 
And again: "As my Father hath sent me, even so 
I send you." The latter passage refers especially to 
the apostolic mission of the disciples, but the former 
plainly includes a mission for all who are one with 
Christ and prepared to do His will. Christ prayed not 
for the twelve alone, but for all who shall believe on 
Him through their word. All followers of Christ are 
sent to be in the world; and they arc sent for a pur- 
pose, to testify in word and deed of Christ, to pro- 
claim and honor Christ before the eyes of the world, 
to let their light of Christlike obedience shine before 



84 His Footsteps. 

the eyes (if men "that the world may know and be- 
lieve that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as 
Thou hast loved me." Just because our will is one 
with Christ's will, we are sent of Him and placed in 
the world, that we may work the works of the Christ- 
like will, and perform our Father's business, each in 
his proper sphere, as Christ did in His. 

And in a manner our will is placed in a position 
similar to that of Christ's. When He was sent to do 
the Father's will, all things were given into His hand; 
now that we are sent and set to do the will of Christ, 
all things are placed at our disposal according to His 
will by prayer. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, what- 
soever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will 
give it you." "And this is the confidence that we have 
in Him, that if we ask any thing according to His 
will, He heareth us." All the divine promises of God 
for prayer might be quoted here. Not that we may 
do what we please or will of ourselves. "Without me 
ye can do nothing." But as long as our will coin- 
cides with Christ's, He heareth us, and all things must 
work together in our favor at His command. And 
when Christ is in us and we in Him, how should God 
refuse to give us freely all things? The mystery is 
great, and yet the exaltation of those whose will is one 
with Christ's is clearly revealed, although the world 
knows it not. 

There is, however, in us what was not in Christ, the 
will of the flesh, or, more properly, the flesh with its 
lusts, desires, and passions, attempting to wrest the 
will away from the control of Christ and His Spirit, 
to make it will what is contrary- to Christ. Paul there- 



Thy Will, Not Mine. 85 

fore, urges us: "Let not sin therefore reign it? your 
mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts there- 
of. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of 
unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto 
God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your 
members as instruments of righteousness unto God." 
And the apostle pictures the conflict that takes place 
in the heart, when the flesh wars against the spirit 
and seeks to master the will as before: "That which 
I do I allow not: for what I would that I do not; but 
what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I 
would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 
Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that 
dwelleth in me. * * * I delight in the law of God after 
the inward man: but I see another law in my mem- 
bers, warring against the law of my mind, and bring- 
ing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my 
members. O wretched man that I am! who shall de- 
liver me from the body of this death? T thank God 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 7, 15, etc. 
In Christ there was no sin at all, in us sin still re- 
mains; Christ's will was perfect in God, ours is still 
hampered by the flesh. But as long as our will is in 
Christ, it will overcome the fleshly desires; and 
though momentarily overcome by them, will quickly 
return to the mastery. But while we carry about 
with US the body of this death, even our most perfect 
willing and doing in Christ will be in some measure 
corrupted and tainted by the llesh. The more com- 
pletely our will rests in that of Christ, the less this 
taint will be. and the more may we sing in triumph 



86 His Footsteps. 

with St. Paul: "I thank God through Jesus Christ 
our Lord." 

Evidently then, we must tread in Christ's footsteps 
and say with Him: "I seek not mine own will, but 
the will of the Father"; "not my will, but thine be 
done." Self and all that surrounds self, centers in self, 
or adheres to self, or proceeds from self, must be 
merged in Christ: "Thy will be done", and none but 
thine. In Paul's words: "I am crucified with Christ; 
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; 
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the 
faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Him- 
self for me." Christ in us must gain complete con- 
trol, so that He shines forth in all our words and 
deeds, while the carnal self is dead and buried. We 
have the pattern for this in Christ, wdiose will and 
work was the Father's to such an extent that He 
could answer Philip's request: "Lord show us the Fa- 
ther", by the statement: "He that hath seen me hath 
seen the Father." Then will we follow in Christ's 
footsteps indeed when Christ shines forth in all our 
works to such an extent that self, inasmuch as it 
would differ from Christ, is lost and gone. 

And this complete subjugation of our will to Christ 
is its true liberation. Sin is slavery, the flesh a chain, 
the world a prison-house, the devil a keeper and 
tyrant. Holiness is freedom, the new life a free life, 
the kingdom of God the spiritual land of liberty, and 
Christ the blessed liberator. Then are we free when 
our will is able to do that for which it was created; 
then are we slaves when our will is hindered from do- 
ing that which God meant it to do. But the will f 



Thy Will, Not Mine. 87 

God is that we will what He wills, and therefore this 
is our liberty, which the world cannot understand. 
There was never a freer man than Christ, and our 
freedom is Christlikeness. "If ye continue in my 
Word", if we do His will, "ye shall know the truth, 
and the truth shall make you free." John 8, 33. 

Christ did His Father's will by doing the works 
which His Father had given Him to do, and by drink- 
ing the cup of suffering which His Father gave Him 
to drink. And we are to follow in these His footsteps. 
This is the will of God that we believe on His Son; 
and again, this is His will that we may be conformed 
to the image of His Son, even our sanctification. "If 
ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my 
love; even as I have kept my Fathers command- 
ments, and abide in His love." It must suffice here 
to refer to the Ten Commandments as the sum of 
God's holy will. In these the will of faith must show 
its Christlikeness. And they already include for us 
the drinking of the bitter cup with humble submission 
in Christian hope. 

When the will of Christ is our will, every attempt 
to draw our will aside must be resented and overcome, 
as Christ overcame the tempter who would lead Him 
astray. "My sheep hear my voice and they follow 
me and a stranger they will not follow, but will flee 
from him, for they know not the voice of strangers." 
Faith is the victory that overcometh the world in the 
strength of Christ who dwells in the heart. But our 
following Christ in the midst of temptation must be 
reserved for another chapter. 



88 His Footsteps. 

It remains to show that the will whose Master is 
Christ seeks no glory but that of Christ, as Christ 
sought no glory but that of the Father; and when we 
glorify Christ we at the same time glorify Him whom 
Christ glorified. John 15, 8; John 17, 10. "If any 
man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any 
man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God 
giveth: that God in all things may be glorified 
through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and domin- 
ion for ever and ever. Amen." This glorification of 
God in all that we will and do is our own greatest 
glory. By thus giving up ourselves completely unto 
Christ we will be among the many sons whom He 
leads unto glory, and in whom His prayer shall be 
fulfilled: "The glory which Thou gavest me I have 
given them"; "Father, I will that they also whom 
Thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they 
may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me." 
And at last Christ's glory shall be fully revealed in us 
whose will is the will of Christ glorified. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

BEHOLD, HE PRAYETH. 

@HRIST led a life of prayer; He was ever in perfect 
communication with the Father whose will He 
had come to do. And His example is for us to 
follow. 

It will not be amiss for us to review the recorded 
instances of Christ's praying. When He stood in the 
waters of Jordan about to receive Baptism and the 
Holy Spirit, we are told that He was "praying." After 
a day's consuming work and a brief night's rest, "in 
the morning, rising up a great while before day, He 
went out and departed into a solitary place and there 
prayed," till Simon and others sought and found Him. 
When His fame blazed abroad, we hear that "He with- 
drew Himself into the wilderness and prayed." The 
choice of the apostles is preceded by His going "out 
into a mountain to pray, and (He) continued all night 
in prayer to God." While alone on the way with His 
disciples, before He asked them the great question 
concerning Himself, we read that He was "alone pray- 
ing, His disciples with Him." The transfiguration is 
ushered in by Christ's "taking Peter and John and 
James and going up into a mountain to pray." And 
"as He prayed" the heavenly glory overspread His 
countenance and glistened in His raiment. The mem- 



90 His Footsteps. 

orable request of the disciples: "Lord, teach us to 
pray," was made by them when "He was praying in a 
certain place." And He who had induced the request 
by His own example answered it and added precious 
instructions in regard to prayer. The miracles of the 
multiplied loaves are ushered in by Christ's giving of 
thanks. The voice from heaven comes in the temple 
in answer to prayer. The raising of Lazarus is pre- 
ceded by an audible thanksgiving. Peter's faith is 
kept from perishing utterly by Christ's intercession. 
The Lord's Supper is instituted with prayer. It is fol- 
lowed soon by the great highpriestly prayer with its 
wonderful utterances. The great agony is borne and 
overcome by prayer. The unbounded possibilities 
which prayer may unlock are in Jesus' mind when He 
declares that one word of petition would bring twelve 
legions of angels down. The first word on the cross 
is prayer; and Christ dies commending His Spirit 
into His Father's hands. 

This is a wonderful record. For we must remem- 
ber the exceeding brevity of the gospel accounts and 
that in their brevity they do not dwell on the subject, 
bringing for the most part only casual references to 
Christ's praying. His parables are gathered in groups, 
His miracles are set before us in select array, but His 
prayers are recorded only in rare instances. And yet 
so much is clearly told us, that we can readily infer all 
else that we need know. He who spent entire nights 
in prayer; whose every act of special importance is 
ushered in by prayer; whose fervor of prayer kindled 
the flame of prayer on the altar of His disciples' hearts; 
whose model prayer stands forever matchless; whose 



Behold, He Psayeth. 91 

highpriestly prayer is far above any voice ever heard 
among men; whose suffering and death are marked by 
the purest and most perfect prayers — He was indeed 
a man of prayer, and lived and moved in the atmos- 
phere of prayer. 

Christ ever walked in the midst of spiritual realities. 
As the material world about Him was real, so no less 
the spiritual world. His eyes never for a moment lost 
sight of His heavenly Father, of the exalted kingdom 
and its angelic inhabitants, of the spiritual kingdom of 
grace on earth and all that was and would be connected 
therewith. He sees all the vanity and the transitori- 
ness of the world, the desperate wickedness of the 
prince of this world and His evil helpers working in 
the darkness and for the darkness. He never for an 
instant loses sight of the divine work laid upon Him 
and the spiritual objects of His kingdom, and the tri- 
umphant end that will come at last. And because He 
lived such a life, His soul was ever full of prayer. 

Perhaps it will help us, who are to follow in His 
steps, if we direct our attention to some of the features 
of Christ praying and prayer. 

He prayed, as we may infer from the Sacred Record, 
ofttimes in silence, for instance at His baptism, pos- 
sibly at the transfiguration, and very likely in the 
mountain solitudes. He prayed at times in public, as 
when the miracle of the loaves was wrought and that 
of raising Lazarus. He prayed oftener still in the 
presence of His disciples, for instance when the Lord's 
Prayer was given, when the highpriestly prayer was 
spoken, when the prayer in His agony in Gethsemane 
was uttered. And we are constrained to think that 



92 His Footsteps. 

He prayed oftenest in solitude, in the stillness of the 
mountain wilderness and in the sacred chamber of His 
own soul. Again and again we read of His retiring 
to pray alone; and He Himself tells how He prayed 
for Peter when that disciple knew it not. 

It is instructive to note for whom Christ's prayers 
were made. He prays for Himself, that the Father 
may glorify Him, that the bitter hour and cup may 
pass by. He prays for the disciples whom the Father 
had given Him, collectively and individually, and for 
all who shall believe on Him through their word. He 
prays for His kingdom and the great objects of this 
kingdom, for the special works which He performs for 
this kingdom, and for the special gifts He bestows upon 
it. He prays for His enemies on the cross, although 
He does not pray for the world, for those who harden 
themselves in opposition to His grace. The scope of 
Christ's prayer is in perfect accord with His divine 
person, character and mission. 

It is scarcely necessary to add that the prayers of 
Jesus were answered in every instance. He willed and 
desired and requested only what the Father Himself 
willed and wished and was ready to do and to give. 
He came ever as the Son to the Father with whom He 
was perfectly one, and therefore His prayer could not 
go unanswered. When He prayed: "Father, glorify 
Thy name," at once the reply came in a voice from 
heaven: "I have both glorified it and will glorify it 
again." At the grave of Lazarus Christ Himself, lift- 
ing up His eyes in prayer, declared: "Father, I thank 
Thee that Thou hast heard me. And I know that 
Thou hearest me always." John 11. 41. In Geth- 



Behold, He Prayeth. 93 

semane the threefold prayer of agony found its glo- 
rious answer. Here, if anywhere, we see Him "touched 
with the feeling of our infirmity," His poor human 
heart sorrowful even unto death, and crying: "If it 
be possible, take this cup away." We must note that 
He did not ask the Father to take the cup away and to 
remove His suffering and death at all hazard, even 
dropping the work of redemption. His determination 
was unshaken even in that hour, that none but the 
Father's gracious will should be done, that the world 
should be redeemed. His prayer in agony only asked, 
if it were possible to save the world without the bitter 
cup, that then God should take it from Him; thus 
clearly implying that if it were impossible, as it was 
indeed, the Father's will should be done, and He would 
drink the cup. For this reason Heb. 5, 7, declares that 
Christ "in the days of His flesh, when He had offered 
up prayers and supplications with strong crying and 
tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, 
was heard in that He feared." He was heard in that 
the angel came and strengthened Him, in that God 
made His heart strong and firm and removed all the 
agony that rent it, and in that God led Him to the glo- 
rious completion of the work of redemption on the 
cross. Christ never prayed ,amiss, therefore His pray- 
ers were never without their complete answer. And 
indeed, if even one of His prayers had been rejected 
as unworthy of answer, what awful results would have 
followed. 

The divinity of Christ and the divine excellence and 
efficacy of His prayers might at first thought discour- 
age us in following His high example of prayer. He 



94 His Footsteps. 

was the Son Himself, and we are only poor sinful 
creatures; every prayer of His was divinely perfect, 
and our best prayers are so full of fault; He had every 
claim upon God whose Son He was and whose will He 
did perfectly, while we have lost all claim upon God 
by our disobedience and sin. And yet this discour- 
aging comparison fades like a shadow in the light when 
we remember the effect of faith. 

If Christ may go freely to the Father and ask and 
receive whatsoever He desires, because He is the Son 
of God Himself, then we may come likewise, with the 
same freedom and assurance, for by faith we too are 
sons, yea, by faith we put on Christ and are so joined 
to the Son that the Father receives and hears us as 
He does the Son Himself. To be sure, Christ is the 
essential Son of God, and we are sons only by adoption 
through faith in Christ; but as regards prayer there is 
no difference, for the rights of Christ are our rights 
through faith, and the privileges of Christ are trans- 
ferred to us. We come praying in Christ's name, 
covered with the glory of that name, and we receive all 
that His name can claim: "Whatsoever ye shall ask 
the Father in my name He will give it you." Yea, 
when Christ dwells in us by faith, God receives our 
prayer as He does Christ's own: "At that day ye shall 
ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will 
pray the Father for you ; for the Father Himself loveth 
you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that 
I came out from God." 

Nor need the imperfection and faultiness of our 
prayers discourage us when compared with the divine 
utterances of the Son. The sons of God are not left 



Behold, He Prayeth. 95 

comfortless, the Spirit of prayer is in their hearts, and 
He "helpeth our infirmities." We admit that our 
prayers of heart and lips are full of faults, "for we 
know not what we should pray for as we ought; but 
the Spirit itself maketh intecession for us with groan- 
ings which can not be uttered. And He that searcheth 
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, be- 
cause He maketh intercession for the saints according 
to the will of God." Left to ourselves, our prayers 
would indeed be worthless, but now the Spirit makes 
them excellent and acceptable to God. Woe then to 
those who grieve the Spirit ; their cries shall be in vain 
in the last dark hour. 

The memory of sin will always lie heavy on the 
Christian's heart when he draws nigh to the throne of 
holiness. But by faith we may come as freely and 
as confidently to God as the Son Himself, for the merits 
of Christ are our own by faith. Could Christ pray so 
confidently because there was no sin in Him, then we 
can pray likewise because there is no sin in us, Christ's 
blood having removed it all; could Christ pray so joy- 
fully because He had rendered God perfect obed ; ence, 
then we can pray likewise because we have rendered 
the very same obedience unto God, all the merit of 
Christ being set down to our account in justification 
through faith. Yea, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus 
is blessedness indeed. He so covers us with the bright- 
ness of His purity and excellence that the Father in 
heaven sees nothing more of our sin or lack of right- 
eousness, nothing more of us and the things that are 
ours, but only the perfection of Christ covering us, 
and the beauty of His name and merit. 



96 His Footsteps. 

And besides this, Christ Himself ever liveth to make 
intercession for us. When we are so crushed that we 
can scarcely groan or sigh in prayer, the Spirit groans 
for us; and when our prayers and the Spirit's groanings 
rise on high the Son takes them up and makes them 
His own before the Father's throne and adds His divine 
intercession to them. Where now are all discourage- 
ments? Only ignorance or wicked perversity could 
hold them fast. 

But all this that is given us through faith in Christ 
dare not make us dilatory and careless in our praying. 
The duty remains that we should be diligent in prayer 
and copy after Christ our example in prayer. The 
high gifts and blessings which our faith may claim 
must ever serve to stimulate us, that we may learn of 
Christ how to pray, and that we may exercise ourselves 
in the work of prayer. He who grows listless, think- 
ing that Christ and the Spirit will do everything for 
him, will awake at last and find his faith dead, and 
Christ and the Spirit of Christ departed from him. 

As Christ, therefore, our example, walked ever in 
the midst of spiritual realities, so must we following 
His steps. Father, Son, and Spirit must ever be pres- 
ent to our souls; their love and grace must ever be the 
greatest treasure in our possession. The kingdom 
above and the kingdom about us must be real to our 
hearts, and all the things pertaining to the heavenly 
kingdom of grace and glory must be the chief things 
for our thought and labor. In the same way the 
kingdom of darkness, with its wicked powers, and its 
warfare against Christ and our souls, must be a dread 
reality for our hearts. As our natural eye sees the 



Behold, He Prayeth. 97 

material world, so our spiritual eye must see the im- 
material, spiritual world. And in accord with all this, 
the true nature of the transitory things of our tem- 
poral life must be clear to our souls. We are on'y pil- 
grims on earth, and as we have brought nothing into 
this world so we shall take nothing out; we live here 
for a time, and receive of God what is needful for our 
life in time, not to attach our souls to earthly pos- 
sessions which will fade like the flower, but to sanctify 
every bodily gift by thanksgiving and prayer and by 
use in the service of God. When thus for us to live is 
Christ and to die gain, our hearts will be ready to pray 
as Christ prayed. 

And first in our prayers as in our labors will be the 
glory of God, as this was chief in the prayers and labors 
of Christ. "Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom 
come; Thy will be done." And that his triple peti- 
tion may be fulfilled, Give us our daily bread; forgive 
us our sins, protect and keep us in temptation, and de- 
liver us from all evil. And for all the blessings of God 
the ascription of praise, the glorification of worship, 
and the thanksgivings of gratitude will come from our 
lips and hearts: "Thine is the kingdom and the power 
and the glory for ever. Amen." 

As Christ prayed in silence and solitude so will our 
believing hearts follow His bidding: "Thou, when 
thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast 
shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret,, 
and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee 
openly." Again as we have no record of Christ pray- 
ing anywhere or at any time in public before He as- 
sumed His divine office, so we will not open our lips 



98 His Footsteps. 

without the call of God for public ministration, but 
confine ourselves to private prayer, and leave the pub- 
lic function to those who are called as was Christ in 
the three last years of His earthly life. But those who 
are set as shepherds by the great Shepherd Christ will 
model their prayers after His, so as to voice the peti- 
tions of their flock unto the throne of grace. 

If the Savior prayed for Himself, then, surely, we 
must do likewise. If the more important acts of His 
life are marked by special prayers, we, in whose lives 
the breath of prayer should ever stir, will also cry with 
especial earnestness unto God when we have special 
need of His blessings. If Christ humbled Himself 
into the dust in the hour of agony, we who must suffer 
and grieve so often will likewise bow down and seek 
in prayer the strength and comfort we need. If Christ 
gave His soul in prayer to God beneath the shadow of 
death, we likewise will face death with prayer in our 
hearts. 

Christ prayed for His disciples, His friends, His 
brethren, as He called them, and for all who would yet 
believe on Him. We must do likewise. He prayed 
for Peter especially when Satan threatened him; and 
here is another example for us. Christ prayed for His 
enemies; and we too must pray for those who spitefully 
entreat us. Christ prayed not for the world, for those 
who hardened themselves in lasting enmity against 
Him; and it is told us: "There is a sin unto death, I 
do not say that ye shall pray for it." 1 John 5, 10. 

Christ sought and loved the "house of prayer," and 
was zealous that nothing should enter there to disturb 
the worship of prayer. Let us not forsake the assem- 



Behold, He Prayeth. 99 

bling of ourselves together for prayer, but remember 
that if two or more of us agree on earth as touching 
anything that we shall ask, it shall be done for us of 
our Father which is in heaven. As we are singly 
bound to Christ, so let us pray in silence and in soli- 
tude; and as we are jointly bound to Him, so let us 
also pray jointly, each little family circle led by the 
father, each congregation led by its pastor. 

As Christ was heard so shall we be who follow His 
footsteps in prayer. 



CHAPTER IX. 

MINE HOUR. 

aS Christ had His hour, so the Christian has his 
hour; and the Christian's hour is the hour of 
Christ. 
A wonderful calmness pervades and exalts the entire 
life of Christ; His every act proceeds with divine 
steadiness, poise, and deliberation. We never hear 
that Christ hurries; He goes in time and He comes in 
time, never too early and never too late. His soul is 
free from anxious, vexing care and troubled, worrying 
thought; He is ever sure of Himself and sure of every- 
thing else, because sure of His Father in heaven. 

When twelve years old Christ knew His Father 
and had begun to understand His Father's business 
to which He was called. Yet for eighteen years after 
the event at Jerusalem Christ remained in obscurity in 
Nazareth. Day by day the youth who had been so 
deeply impressed at Jerusalem grew in the knowledge 
of His Father, and of His own person as the Son of 
God and the Son of man, whom the Father had sent 
into the flesh to fulfill the great prophecies of the Old 
Testament, to save His people Israel and with them the 
whole world. Year after year passed by, and still He 
remained quiet and silent in Nazareth, while the bur- 
den of sin and misery about Him grew ever more 




IT 



■S .5 



Mine Hour. 101 

crushing and desperate. Not till the hour was come 
did Christ step forth and assume the office and begin 
His public career. Not till the voice in the. wilderness 
proclaimed at Qod's command: The kingdom of 
heaven is at hand! did the Mediator show Himself. 
And even then He began not at once to preach and 
teach and use His power in Nazareth or Jerusalem. 
He went to the Jordan as one among the multitude 
to be baptized of John, and began His own labors 
only after receiving the anointing of the Spirit and the 
declaration from the skies. 

There is in this silent waiting of Christ something 
like the waiting of God for the fulness of time. As 
God waited for centuries before sending His Son, 
so the Son waits for years before assuming His work. 
There is no shadow of fear that by this waiting anything 
will be missed or lost; there is no chafing and com- 
plaining about the burden of inactivity, no restlessness 
and burning desire to shake off the yoke of silence. 
No ; the very waiting is taken as a part of the business 
which His Father had laid upon Him. As at last 
when Christ spoke He spoke at the Father's bidding, 
so at first He was silent because of the Father's will; 
as afterwards Christ healed and helped and showed 
His divine power in obedience to the Father's call, 
so before the hour came He possessed His power with- 
out once exerting it, in the very same obedience. As 
He was ready to step into public activity when the 
moment arrived, so He was ready to abide in inactivity 
while the time for waiting was still passing. Those 
eighteen long years at Nazareth show forth a glorious 
part of Christ's divine excellence. 



102 His Footsteps. 

The apochryphal gospels were written by men who 
could not understand the hour of God. Men are nearly 
always over-anxious to begin their work or dilatory 
when the hour arrives. So these man-made accounts 
tell us that Jesus astonished the people of Xazareth in 
His childhood and youth by prodigious deeds of mirac- 
ulous power and astonishing displays of human wis- 
dom. These childish accounts show us how foolishly 
their writers would have acted in Christ's place, how 
little they would have understood and obeyed the 
Father's will, how completely they would have 
lacked the calmness and deliberateness of Christ, how 
they would have spoiled the work by their sinful haste 
and missed the divine hour by their sinful eagerness 
and impatience. By this complete lack of the wisdom 
of God the apocryphal gospels show that they are the 
work of man's foolish wisdom and not the work of di- 
vine inspiration. They are far below the divine ac- 
counts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and there- 
fore the Church has never accepted these idle inven- 
tions. 

The life that began with such perfect calmness and 
patience preserved these godlike features to the very 
end; and in several striking instances this waiting for 
the hour of God is set before us in the work of the 
God-man. 

At Cana there was lack of wine. Undoubtedly Christ 
knew of the lack before His mother reported the fact; 
and undoubtedly Christ could have relieved the warn 
long before He did. And yet He waited. Even when 
the want of wine became known and began to trouble 
those who managed the feast, Christ is in no hurry. 



Mine Hour. 103 

When Mary at last, other expedients having failed, as 
we may assume, comes to her Son for aid, He sends 
her away with a mild rebuke: "Mine hour is not 
yet come." Her foolish wisdom would have coun- 
seled haste. Christ's divine deliberation knows noth- 
ing of such haste, will not be driven and drawn even 
by a mother's request, but waits till the moment for 
action arrives. Then, when the hour came, the work 
was done and done to perfection. 

We see the same calm and deliberate waiting when 
Lazarus lay sick. Christ knew when His friend was 
laid low, and yet He remains away; Christ could have 
healed His friend at once as He had healed even stran- 
gers before. And yet He delays. The anxious hearts 
of Martha and Mary are overcome by this seeming 
neglect, this apparently unfriendly delay. They send 
the message: "He whom Thou lovest is sick"; they 
would hasten Christ by this appeal to His love. But 
Christ is not hastened. Lazarus dies, and Christ tells 
His disciples that he is dead indeed. Then at last, 
when to men it seems too late, Christ goes to Bethany. 
For four days the dead man has already lain. Christ 
waits till the hour has fully come. And then we hear 
from His lips the mighty word: "Lazarus, come 
forth!" 

There is much in the gospels similar to these two 
incidents. When the brethren of Christ attempt to 
urge Him forward that He may "show Himself to the 
world," Christ refuses to yield to their ambition and to 
the haste of human eagerness, telling His brethren: 
"My time is not yet come." John 7, 6. When after- 
wards Christ's mother and kinsmen would draw Him 



104 His Footsteps. 

away from His work by their fears and pleadings, He 
meets their proposals with the same calm refusal. He 
shrinks not from the hour when it comes, whatever 
the danger it may bring. 

As Christ bides His time in all He does, according 
to the Father's will, so He rests secure in the hour that 
His Father has set in regard to His suffering. No 
man could hasten this hour, and no man could delay 
it. When the first burst of anger at Nazareth (Luke 
4 30) blazed forth and would have slain Jesus, He. 
passed unharmed from the hands of His haters i for 
His hour had not yet come. Again, when the Phari- 
sees were aroused and sought to kill Him, their attempt 
proved abortive. 'They sought to take Him; but no 
man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet 
come." John 7, 30. The same thing is recorded when 
a few days later the Jews would have slain Christ: "No 
man laid hands on Him, for His hour was not yet 
come." John 8, 20. And when they would have 
stoned Him for declaring Himself older than Abra- 
ham and the Son of God, He again passed through 
their midst unharmed. He whose whole life hung 
upon God, watching ever for the Father's hour to do 
the Father's work, could not have His life and work 
spoiled by the angry haste of men. 

( >ver against the hours of man's passionate haste 
stands the hour of God's calm deliberation. The 
waves may foam and beat upon the rock with all their 
might, ever immovable the rock rears its head on high. 
As the hour of birth in the divine life of Christ was 
fixed, so also the hour of suffering and death. In the 
temple, when certain Greeks had come to Jesus, the 



Mine Hour. 105 

forerunners of the many who would come to sit clown 
with Abraham in his kingdom, Christ beheld the ap- 
proaching hour and said to those about Him: "The 
hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified." 
John 12, 23. That hour, of which Christ speaks, was 
indeed an hour of bitterest anguish, and yet an hour 
full of glory, the hour of victory over all the foes of 
hell, the hour therefore that would bring forth years 
of never-ending blessedness for His disciples. The ap- 
proach of that hour cast a deep shadow over Christ's 
heart. As He stood in the temple He declared: "Now 
is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, 
save me from this hour?" But no, Christ Himself 
desires the hour and will submit to it with all its bitter- 
ness and anguish. "But for this cause came I unto 
this hour," He tells Himself and us, and therefore lift- 
ing His eyes toward heaven, this is His prayer: "Father, 
glorify Thy name." It is the same prayer that burst 
from the anguished heart in Gethsemane: Thy will 
be done, not mine. 

Again and again we are told of the hour of passion 
and its arrival. When the little band is gathered for 
the last supper we read that "Jesus knew that His hour 
was come that He should depart out of this world unto 
the Father." In the counsel of God all was fixed, and 
no man could alter the decision. "Behold, the hour 
cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, 
every man to his own, and shall leave me alone." A 
little while after the words were fulfilled, for the hour 
had indeed come. Jesus knew its arrival. He told 
His disciples that it was at hand, and in His high- 
priestly prayer He speaks of it to the Father: "Father, 



106 His Footsteps. 

the hour is come; glorify Thy Son that Thv Son also 
may glorify Thee." And when the hour was upon 
Him, and all that cup of gall put to Christ's lips, He 
rebels not, though His soul is on the very brink of 
death; His own prayer is: "Thy will be done." Freely 
Christ entered that hour from which He could have 
fled. No man forced Him, He gave Himself into 
death. As He stands in the midst of His captors He 
tells them : "This is your hour and the power of dark- 
ness." Now His foes are free to act, who have been 
restrained so long in their wicked haste by the hand of 
God; and Christ gives Himself into their power, be- 
cause the hour has come. 

The great Sanhedrin had resolved that Jesus should 
not be captured and put to death at the passover festi- 
val. "They consulted that they might take Jesus by 
subtility and kill Him; but they said: Not on the 
feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people." 
But even while this resolution was taken, Christ was 
telling His disciples: "Ye know that after two days 
is the feast of the passover and the Son of man is be- 
trayed to be crucified." The wickedness of God's 
greatest foes is in His hands to guide it according to 
His will. They who will not yield to His grace must 
submit to His power. At God's own time God's Son 
is put into the power of His foes, and their wickedness 
runs on unbidden, runs by its own impetus to slay 
Him, not at their own hour, but at the hour God gave 
them for their deed of darkness. The Lamb of God 
was sacrificed, as God had foreseen and determined, 
at the time of the passover sacrifice, when the countless 



Mine Hour. 107 

lambs that prefigured Christ's great sacrifice shed their 
blood at the altar. 

It could not be otherwise. There could be no 
play of chance in the life of the Son of man. He had 
a given hour for every portion of His work; and He 
takes each hour as it is given, and performs and suffers 
in each hour what that hour requires according to His 
Father's will. What is told us so plainly in reference 
to some portions of His life shows us with equal plain- 
ness what lay at the bottom of the entire course of His 
life. This is the blessed mystery of His hour which 
was always the hour of God. 

There is indication enough in what is said of Christ's 
hour to show us that we who follow in His footsteps 
have likewise a given hour. For us too it is the hour 
of God, and we too should recognize it as such and 
yield ourselves to it accordingly. At Cana Mary is 
told to bide the hour of Christ; at Bethany Martha and 
her sister are taught the same lesson. And in the 
shadow of the cross the disciples learn that their hour 
draweth nigh likewise, the hour when they shall be 
troubled while the world rejoices, when they shall be 
scattered while their foes assemble about the lonely 
Son of man. 

The notion of mere chance is deeply rooted in the 
minds of men; they speak constantly of good luck 
or good fortune and again of bad luck and mishaps. 
The opposite extreme is the notion of fate and its in- 
evitable power in fixing what shall take place. Both 
notions are false and are contradicted by the life of 
Christ, and by the life of every one who follows in 
His footsteps. 



108 His Footsteps. 

The notion of chance and luck presumes that things 
may take place without any will to cause, direct, con- 
trol them. Blind chance it is called. The notion of 
fatality presumes that some impersonal or perhaps 
some personal will has fixed all that shall be and take 
place, without regard to man's will. But the Word of 
God, which shows us the hour of God so plainly in 
the life of Christ, denies that anything may come to 
pass entirely of itself without a will to cause and gov- 
ern it; and likewise denies that either a personal or an 
impersonal power has inevitably fixed all that shall be. 
The Scriptures show us a personal God and a personal 
creature man; they show us a divine will moving and 
controlling the affairs of nature and man on earth, 
and a human will coinciding and assenting to the di- 
vine will, or contradicting and rebelling against its 
arrangements. 

In Christ's life we see the hour of God provided and 
guided by God, and recognized and utilized perfectly 
by the God-man. There is no chance and no fate; 
there is perfect freedom on the part of God as well as 
on the part of Christ. Both, however, are in perfect 
harmony, and so there is never a clash. And this per- 
fect harmony should oe reflected in every follower of 
Christ. Each gracious hour as God gives it, each 
gracious purpose as God reveals it, hour by hour in 
our lives, should be recognized, accepted, and utilized 
by us. This is true Christlikeness. 

The hour of God with its gracious gifts and blessings 
and purposes may be unperceived and left utilized by 
us through our blindness and sin. We are free to act 
contrary to God's proposing and disposing. Then 



Mine Hour. 109 

indeed we must suffer the lamentable results. But 
these results are neither the product of chance nor of 
fate, they are the fruit of our own choosing and doing. 
To be sure, when once we have chosen there seems to 
be an inevitableness in the result from which we can 
not escape. He who rejects and neglects the day of 
grace falls inevitably into the hour of judgment and 
condemnation. "If thou hadst known, even thou, at 
least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy 
peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." Death 
is linked inseparably to sin. And yet not by chance 
nor by fate. It is God whose supreme will has so ar- 
ranged the two. And we fall into the pit only when 
we choose the way that leads thither and reject the 
hand that would save us. Man's condemnation is the 
result of his own evil choosing and doing. And this 
will be one of the worst tortures of the lost, they will 
know and tell themselves that they could have been 
in bliss, if they had not wilfully chosen the sin that 
leads to doom. 

In every hour of Christ's life He obeyed the purpose 
of God who gave the hour; so should we in every hour 
of our lives. We confine ourselves here to a sketch of 
the more prominent hours which God sends us, just 
as we followed the Scriptures in speaking of certain 
hours in Christ's life which are marked with special 
emphasis. 

In the sinner's life there is an hour of grace for which 
Christ's life furnishes no exact parallel, as He was with- 
out sin. It dare not be forgotten that Christ is our 
example only when we are His followers, not when we 
are yet sinners without sonship. And yet in a gen- 



110 His Footsteps. 

eral way we may say that even on the threshhold of 
sonship, when the grace of God comes to save and 
regenerate us, we should recognize the hour and yield 
to the blessed purpose of God, as Christ always recog- 
nized God's time and God's purpose in every portion 
of His life. There can be no likeness between our 
sinful state and the sinless state of Christ; indeed, this 
difference runs through our whole discussion of Christ- 
likeness, its very purpose being the removal of every 
feature of unlikeness. When then the hour of grace 
comes, there can be likeness between us and Christ 
only in so far as we see and use this hour of God as 
Christ saw and used every hour of God. 

"To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your 
hearts." Now is the accepted time, the hour of grace; 
wait not for a more convenient season, which may 
never come. As there is a tide in the earthly affairs 
of men which taken at the full leads on to success, but 
if missed leaves men to their folly and misery, so also 
there is a tide of grace, an hour of salvation, in which 
our hearts stand before the door of the kingdom, and 
the hand of Christ touches our hand to lead us in ; and 
if that hour is recognized we become sons of God 
through faith in Christ, but if it is passed by in blind- 
ness and perversity, we remain sons of Satan, and 
sink more deeply into his power. 

When once we are brethren of Christ througth faith 
tlv.TC will be special hours of golden opportunities in 
His service. Tike the hour in Cana for Christ, and 
like the hour at Bethany before the tomb, so there will 
come hours like gifts of God when Christ stands before 
us in His brethren seeking our love and help. Now 



Mine Hour. Ill 

He will be an hungred or athirst, now a stranger or 
naked, now languishing in sickness, or bound in pris- 
on. And in such hours of special opportunity, whatso- 
ever we do to one of the least of Christ's brethren we 
do unto Him, and the very least of such deeds will not 
go unremembered ; and if we must call these hours 
blessed when the bodily wants of Christ's brethren pre- 
sent glorious opportunities for Christ's service in 
Christlike action, then much more must we prize the 
hour when the spiritual need of Christ's brethren, or 
of those who may yet become His brethren, appeals 
to us and gives us opportunities for the highest type of 
Christlike work, namely the labor of strengthening 
weak faith, and of kindling faith in sinners' hearts. 
Every hour should be God's in our whole lives, even 
when we eat, or drink, or play, or sleep; but these 
special hours for special service should be His in a 
special sense. They form the heights of our constant 
service, the mountain-peaks that rise above the plain 
of common constant devotion. 

Again there is an hour of trial in every Christlike 
life, when our strength is tested beyond the common 
routine of duty. As in the wilderness of the tempta- 
tion and in the garden of the agony the fiery hour of 
trial came for Christ, so for us there will be hours of 
battle and hours of anguish. There is but one road to 
heaven and that leads through dark passes and narrow 
valleys. Temptations and trials, therefore, do not 
come by chance; as Christ knew what awaited Him on 
the way He had chosen, and as He foretold His disci- 
ples what lay on the way they were pursuing in His 
footsteps, so He has already announced to us also that 



112 His Footsteps. 

we cannot expect ease and pleasure in the midst of foes 
and in the vale of tears. The devil, the world, and the 
flesh are here, and they have their hour while we are 
on our pilgrimage. Yet we shall not be tempted above 
our strength ; for every conflict the Lord offers to pre- 
pare us; in every temptation He would be at our side; 
by every test of faith He would lift us higher and make 
us purer. And then do we follow in His footsteps 
when we trample the foe beneath us as did the Victor 
who went before. 

The hour of suffering and grief serves the same end. 
In our weakness Christ would be our strength. In 
our tears He would be our joy. In our losses He 
would be our great treasure and possession. In our 
friendlessness He would be our friend of friends. In 
our mourning He would be our consolation. In our 
death He would be our life. And then are we truly 
Christlike when He fills our hearts completely, when we 
brave every storm as He did, with His strength. So 
shall all things work for our good, even the bitterest 
experience of life; and so shall no power of earth or hell 
separate us from Him and His love. 

The special hours to which we have thus drawn at- 
tention must remind us that in every hour at every turn 
of our life ,ve should look up to see that we keep in 
Christ's footsteps. Business, marriage, friendship, 
change of abode, daily occupation, amusement, yea, 
every word and thought, must be "according to His 
will" hour by hour. Looking ever to Jesus every 
hour of our lives will be under His guidance and bless- 
ing. And when the course of life is run, and the hour 



Mine Hour. 113 

of death arrives, we may enter it with steadfast hearts, 
and find the last hour the best of all. Life's labor fin- 
ished, our spirit commended to God, we may then step 
across the threshhold of death into the joy of eternal 
blessedness. 



CHAPTER X. 

IT IS WRITTEN. 

IN studying the person of our Savior, His knowl- 
edge of the Scriptures must impress us especially. 
Again and again He declared: "It is written!" 
and His admonition to us: "Search the Scriptures", 
binds us to follow His footsteps in this regard. 

The brief gospel history of Jesus is full of instances 
showing Christ's full knowledge of the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures. He meets the scriptural quotations 
of Satan in the great temptation with counter quota- 
tions: "Again it is written." He speaks of John the 
Baptist declaring: "This is he of whom it is written: 
Behold I send my messenger before Thy face which 
shall prepare Thy way before Thee." And again: "I 
say unto you that Elias is come already, and they 
knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever 
they listed"; and the disciples understood that He 
spoke of John the Baptist. At various times Christ 
quotes the commandments: Thou shalt do no mur- 
der; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not 
steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; honor thy 
father and thy mother; and thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bor as thyself. Again He gives the sum of all the 
commandments, the Law and the Prophets, combin- 
ing Old Testament passages: "Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul 



It is Written. 115 

and with all thy mind — Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bor as thyself." 

The preaching of Jesus is full of Old Testament 
references. In the Sermon on the Mount. He gives 
an incomparable exposition of various command- 
ments: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of 
old time", — exposing by His true interpretation the 
false views of the rabbis. In a striking manner He 
shows how the Pharisees and scribes make the Fourth 
Commandment of none effect by their traditions. 
Matth. 15, 3. The Old Testament teaching regarding 
the Sabbath and its observance is a theme to which 
Christ refers again and again. He knows what is 
written and what the Law of God bids and forbids, 
and He uses such knowledge with mighty effect 
against the foolish and hurtful notions of the Jews. 
In His Sermon at Nazareth Christ Himself reads the 
gospel prophecy of Isaiah, and in His discourse on the 
text interprets the beautiful promises and shows their 
fulfillment in Himself. 

With powerful effect Jesus employs the Scriptures 
in overthrowing His enemies who knew not the Scrip- 
tures. When the Jews cried out upon the unlawful- 
ness of His disciples plucking ears of corn on the 
Sabbath, He refers them to the Scriptures: "Have ye 
not read what David did, when he was an hungred, 
and they that were with him; how he entered into the 
house of God and did eat the shewbread which was not 
lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with 
him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read 
in the Law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests 
in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blame- 



116 His Footsteps. 

less?" And in the same strain He continues: ''But 
if ye had known what this meaneth: I will have mercy 
and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the 
guiltless." Matth. 12, 3, etc. In the same over- 
whelming way Christ uses the Scriptures to smite 
the freethinking Sadducees who made bold to deny 
the resurrection. The Old Testament does not say 
very much directly on this subject, and yet it says 
enough for those who search and are ready to believe. 
When the Sadducees came with the quibble, which 
they thought unanswerable, about the woman and the 
seven brothers, Christ answered them: "Ye do err, 
not knowing the Scriptures." And then He led them 
into the Scriptures: "As touching the resurrection of 
the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto 
you by God, saying: I am the God of Abraham and 
the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? God is not 
the God of the dead but of the living." And with this 
simple interpretation He confounded them utterly. 

And in the same way He made the Pharisees feel 
the keenness of the two-edged Sword of the Spirit, 
asking them the question from the 110th Psalm: If 
Christ is David's son, "how then doth David in spirit 
call Him Lord, saying: The Lord said unto my Lord: 
Sit Thou on my right hand, till I make Thine enemies 
Thy footstool? If David then call Him Lord, how 
can He be his son?" And again His foes were van- 
quished. 

Christ's incomparable wealth of Scripture knowl- 
edge appears at every turn. At one time He makes 
a powerful comparison regarding the judgment be- 
tween Capernaum and Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon; at 



// is Written. 117 

another He likens the people at the judgment to those 
of the days of Noe. We hear the prophecies of Isaiah 
on His lips: "By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not 
understand" — "This people draweth nigh unto me 
with their mouth"; the word of David: "Out of the 
mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected 
praise"; the prophecy of Daniel concerning the abom- 
ination of desolation standing in the holy place. With 
lifted hand and indignant voice He clears the temple, 
declaring: "It is written: My house shall be called 
a house of prayer." With deepest sorrow He points 
the unbelieving people of Nazareth to the widow of 
Sarepta and to Naaman the Syrian. And if we could 
enter in detail all the words that the gospels record, 
we would find besides these open references many 
covert and less pronounced. The parables treating 
the vine and the vineyard, those of the wedding feast 
and its bounties prepared for the guests, take up and 
elaborate prominent Old Testament thoughts. 

One of the most important lines of Scripture refer- 
ences in the words of Christ is that interpreting the 
prophecies written concerning Himself. The first 
word we have from His lips indicates that thus early 
He knew of whom these prophecies spoke. He open- 
ly proclaims at Nazareth, after reading the messianic 
prophecy of Isaiah: "This day is this Scripture ful- 
filled in your ears." The mystery of David's son and 
David's Lord in Psalm 110 may puzzle the masters in 
Israel, it can not puzzle Him in whom this mystery 
stands revealed. 

In due time Christ proceeds to tell His disciples 
openly: "How it is written of the Son of Man that 



118 His Footsteps. 

He must suffer many things, and be set at naught." 
He takes the twelve and declares unto them: "Be- 
hold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are 
written by the prophets concerning the Son of Alan 
shall be accomplished; for He shall be delivered unto 
the Gentiles and shall be mocked and spitefully en- 
treated and spitted on, and they shall scourge Him 
and put Him to death; and the third day He shall 
rise again." On the eve of His suffering and death 
He points out several prophecies especially: "I say 
unto you that this that is written must yet be accom- 
plished in me: And He was reckoned among the 
transgressors." And a second: "All ye shall be of- 
fended because of me this night: for it is written: I 
will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock 
shall be scattered abroad." And in the Garden, when 
Peter tried to interfere, we hear the same tone: "But 
how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it 
must be?" — "All this was done that the Scriptures of 
the prophets might be fulfilled." 

Christ's knowledge of the Scriptures was unique. 
Although He undoubtedly learned them part by part 
and penetrated their words by degrees, He of whom 
all the Scriptures and the prophets testify, the divine 
God-man in whom the Spirit dwelt as in none else, 
knew the Scriptures with a divine perfection of knowl- 
edge, which no man is able to attain. In fact, in 
speaking of His knowledge of the Old Testament we 
must not for a moment think that He was limited to 
these Scriptures alone in His knowledge of divine 
things. He Himself came from the bosom of the 
Father; and He tells us plainly: "Neither knoweth 



It is Written. 119 

any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomso- 
ever the Son will reveal Him"; "As the Father 
knoweth me, even so know I the Father." Therefore 
He declares: "I speak that which I have seen with 
my Father" — "He gave me commandment what I 
should say, and what I should speak" — "Whatsoever 
I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, 
so I speak." Christ not only knew perfectly all that 
the Old Testament contained, but knew and declared 
unto us far more. Yea, the revelation begun in the 
Old Testament is continued and completed by Christ 
in the New. After Christ ceased His personal preach- 
ing and teaching He sent His Spirit upon the apos- 
tles, and that Spirit recalled to their minds what Jesus 
had taught them, and led them into all the fulness of 
His teaching, taking the things of Christ and showing 
them unto the disciples. Christ was the Prophet of 
prophets, the everlasting truth itself, and the perfect 
revelation of that truth unto men in His person, word, 
and work. All this dare not be overlooked when we 
take Christ's "It is written" for our example. 

It might appear as though these considerations 
would effectually prevent our imitation of Christ in 
this line. He knew not only the Old Testament, but 
the New with divine knowledge and far more than 
even the New contains; He not only knew, but was 
Himself the fountain of knowledge, the light of reve- 
lation. And it is simply impossible for us to become 
like Him in this respect. We can never ourselves be- 
come a source of knowledge or produce a revelation 
by our own wisdom. Moreover, the position of Jesus 
as the Prophet of prophets seems to place Him and 



120 His Footsteps. 

His knowledge apart as not meant for general imita- 
tion. Surely, the simple Christian in his lowly round 
of daily duty cannot expect to model after the divine 
God-man whose position and work transcends every 
other. 

And yet it would be wrong for us for such reasons 
to turn our backs upon the Scriptures and imagine 
that we are not to follow Christ's footsteps in learning 
and using them. There will always be differences be- 
tween Jesus and ourselves, which must be kept in 
mind lest we degrade Him and exalt ourselves, and 
yet there will always be enough of brotherly similarity 
to demand that we be conformed to His image. 

If the fact be made prominent,' that He is the source 
of revelation and the Teacher of teachers sent of God, 
then our following in His footsteps will consist in this: 
as He received of the Father to give unto us, so we 
must receive of Him for ourselves and to give in our 
measure unto others. As the Son dwelt in the bosom 
of the Father and knew all things, so we must pillow 
our hearts on the bosom of the Word which was in the 
beginning with God, and from the word of the Word 
learn all things for our salvation. 

And yet we may well descend from such hights 
of comparison. Christ became acquainted with the 
Scriptures in a human way, He read and learned them, 
and when a boy of twelve is shown us as asking aston- 
ishing questions concerning them. Here is the ex- 
ample for us to follow in all simplicity. Christ used 
llu- Scriptures in a human way. We are not referring 
to His added revelations. We simply take the in- 
stances in which He handled Old Testament passages. 



// is Written. . 121 

He understood and expressed their simple true mean- 
ing; He employed them in defense against error; He 
used them in the way of earnest admonition; He 
took them as the unquestioned basis of faith and guide 
of conduct; He submitted Himself to their declara- 
tions and rested secure on their prophecies and prom- 
ises. And surely herein there is enough for us to 
follow. 

But, first of all we must note that the Scriptures 
are not dark nor their meaning doubtful. It does not 
require a God-man or an angel or a savant to under- 
stand them, only a simple believing heart. How sim- 
ply were the Sadducees routed with all their fine-spun 
reasoning in unbelief concerning the resurrection — 
the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is not the 
God of the dead, but of the living. Yet it will ever 
remain true that he who has no eyes will not see; the 
carnal man receiveth not the spiritual things of the 
Spirit; as long as he is carnal all appears foolishness, 
which when his spiritual eyes are opened will be the 
highest, holiest, and most blessed wisdom. The quib- 
bles and objections of unbelievers are only an evidence 
of the lack of eyes to see, never a reason for us who 
do see to shut our eyes or put out our eyesight and 
reject the everlasting light. 

The Scriptures are never ambiguous and never 
themselves furnish cause for dispute and difference 
of creed. The truth they utter is one truth, perfect 
and absolute, and the language they use is a faultless 
vehicle for the expression of that truth. This lifts the 
inspired Word infinitely above the word of men, which 
may be wholly or partly false or only a more or less 



122 His Footsteps. 

perfect approach to truth, and this expressed in more 
or less adequate and perfect language. 

Now men may take up the one perfect and absolute 
truth of God as it lies before them in the clear and 
perfect expression of the Scriptures, and they may dif- 
fer in their apprehension of this truth. But the fault is 
theirs always. The starry heavens are ever the same, 
but men see them differently, their eyes are not alike. 
Some are dim, but because the heavens appear dimly 
to them they are not dim. Some are oblique, but 
because the heavens appear altered, they are not really 
so, but ever the same in perfection. Some take their 
stand in the fog or beneath clouds, and the heavens 
seem faded or clouded, but the stars above shine ever 
the same. The differences are all in the men who 
look up and in the positions they take. So with the 
heavenly word of revelation. 

The spiritual eye may be dim or oblique, befogged, 
or overclouded. Xo wonder then that men differ in 
what they see in the Scriptures. Clouds of human 
ignorance or imagination overspread and hid away 
from the disciples and all the Jewish people the shin- 
ing truth regarding the humiliation and suffering of 
the Savior, and it took Jesus a long while to disperse 
those clouds. Clouds still darken the vision of many, 
but the truth is there none the less, and those who 
step out from beneath the clouds see it clearly. The 
human reason of men often makes their spiritual eyes 
oblique, so that they see the truth with parts dispro- 
portionate, twisted and turned and disharmonious; 
and because of this alteration made by their eyes thev 
speak falsely and fall into error concerning the change- 



// is Written. 123 

less, perfect, divinely harmonious truth of God. The 
Judaizers in Paul's day reasoned that the ceremonial 
laws of the Old Testament were still binding upon 
the Christian church, and by their oblique vision of 
the Scriptures failed to see the proper place of faith 
and justification and works and the freedom of the 
justified in Christ. Preconceived notions of human 
reason act in the same way to-day, shutting out like 
clouds some portion of the truth, or darkening the eye 
and producing partial vision, thus leaving the rest 
strangely altered; twisting the eyes and thus spoiling 
the harmony seen. Imperfect, perverted, or false 
apprehension of the truth always has its cause in man. 
The truth as set forth by the Scriptures is ever the 
same, faultless, perfect, unambiguous, clear, and di- 
vinely harmonious. 

In all this we can learn of Christ. As He saw so 
we should see. The eyes of His Spirit were clear, 
unclouded, and perfect in vision. When He began 
to look into the Scriptures He saw the truth they con- 
tained and uttered, all of it, every part of it, in all 
its perfection, harmony, and depth. When the tempter 
sought to pervert His vision, He answered by an 
unperverted statement of the truth; when Sadducee 
and Pharisee came in their blundering blindness He 
met them with the clear words of God; when His 
disciples were troubled and puzzled because they could 
not harmonize certain notions of reason with certain 
portions of the truth, He put truth in place of reason's 
notions and made all clear and harmonious. O for a 
like perfection of spiritual eye-sight! The prayer is 



124 His Footsteps. 

not vain, for Christ promises us His Spirit to lead 
us into all truth. 

Among men there will always be a difference in the 
degree of their knowledge. Some will know more, 
some less. All vessels are not of equal size, yet if 
only each be full of crystal liquid arid free from impuri- 
ties, the difference in size will matter little. There may 
be a considerable difference as to amount of Scripture 
knowledge between the learned theologian and the 
unlearned mechanic, yet there need be no difference 
in the purity of their knowledge, nor in the strength 
of their faith. Christ praises childlike faith, and re- 
veals His wisdom unto babes. The childlike dispo- 
stion, the purity, simplicity, and integrity of heart 
must therefore stand first, and secondly the amount 
of knowledge according to the measure of intellectual 
and spiritual ability bestowed upon us by God. 

There is a vital difference between the common 
knowledge of earthly wisdom and the true knowledge 
of the Wisdom of the Word. To know the Scriptures, 
and to know about the Scriptures, are two different 
things. There are many learned critics who treat the 
Scriptures as they would any other ancient book ; they 
study it to know all about it, filling their heads with 
a vast mass of facts, surmises, and conclusions, yet 
leaving their hearts empty of the real everlasting 
truth. Theirs is not the Christlike knowledge we 
should seek. Lesser minds are frequently led in the 
same path, troubling to learn many things concerning 
the sacred Book, neglecting the one thing needful. 
The rabbis, in Christ's time, were experts in this out- 
ward knowledge of Holv Writ, but how lamentable 



// is Written. 125 

their inward knowledge when tested by Christ. Then 
have we searched the Scriptures aright when we have 
found in them gold tried in the fire, white raiment 
for our clothing, and eyesalve to heal our blindness. 
All other knowledge of the precious pages must be 
secondary and subservient to this which is vital and 
absolutely indispensable to those treading in Christ's 
footsteps. 

At best, however, we cannot expect to see the truth 
of salvation with the divine clearness of Jesus; be- 
cause of the flesh which still hampers us we will see 
through a glass darkly, knowing only in part and 
prophesying in part; but as in other features of our 
growing Christlikness, the time of perfection shall 
arrive at last, when we shall see face to face and know 
even as we are known. 

The reception of Scripture knowledge must be fol- 
lowed by its proper use after the example of Christ. 
Without question we must trust the Word we have 
received. Christ Himself placed implicit faith in every 
statement of the Scriptures. If ever a man dwelt on 
earth who was able to criticize either the record as 
written, or the contents of that record, that man was 
Christ. Yet we find Him doing neither. To say that 
He did neither, because He accommodated Himself 
to the ideas and opinions of the men among whom 
He lived, is to degrade Christ, to undermine all His 
teaching, and thus to make havoc of all Christian 
truth. He who relentlessly attacked the traditions 
of the elders, the perversions of Mosaic doctrine in 
every form that met Him, would not have credited 
the books of Moses to Moses, if Moses had not written 



126 His Footsteps. 

them. He who proclaimed Himself the Son of God, 
and yielded His life for the proclamation, would not 
have admitted and taught the doctrine of hell and 
Satan, if either or both had been false and mere rem- 
nants of pagan superstition. "It is written," in every 
instance settles the matter for Him; on the Word 
as it stands He relies, on it He builds His own teach- 
ing, to it He binds all His followers. And he who 
follows in His footsteps must make the Word as "it 
is written" the one and only foundation of his faith. 
No alleged results of science, no demands of reason, 
no traditions of men dare interfere. 

"The Word they shall let stand, 
And no thank have for it." 

Heaven and earth may pass away, science climb ever 
so high and boast ever so loud, reason argue ever so 
subtly, God's Word, like a mighty rock amid the 
crashing billows, shall stand unmoved and imperturb- 
able. The God-man, whose life is a fulfillment of 
what Moses and the prophets have written, is a safer 
guide and example than the men who refuse to sub- 
mit to the word, "It is written." 

At Nazareth Christ presented the word of the 
prophet Isaiah to His hearers as the divine foundation 
of saving faith. The Scriptures testify of Him, and 
it is for us to receive their testimony with grateful 
and believing hearts. The W T ord brings us the blessed 
treasures of salvation, the love and mercy of God, the 
merits of our Savior's life and death, the forgiveness 
of our guilt and the righteousness that avails before 
God, the saving power and efficacy of God's Holy 



// is Written. 127 

Spirit, and all that our poor hearts need to reach the 
Paradise whence we have fallen. To bestow these 
invaluable treasures upon men Christ constantly em- 
ployed the Old Testament, and all the revelations 
which He Himself brought, and which are now set 
down for us in the New Testament. To proclaim this 
savinsr Gospel to all the world the disciples were 
trained and commissioned; they preached and wrote 
"that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the 
Son of God, and that believing ye might have life 
through His name." "It is written" is therefore the 
rock of our salvation, the everlasting foundation of 
our faith, trust, confidence, and assurance, that we 
have been received as children of God and heirs of 
salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. If the Gos- 
pel be not for us the power of God unto salvation, 
though it be a thousand other things, we shall perish. 
What would all knowledge, all power, all eminence, 
all happiness profit us, as long as we escape not dam- 
nation? 

"It is written," Jesus makes the rule and guide 
for our conduct. Again and again He repeats the 
commandments of God, and declares that He has not 
come to overthrow but to fulfill and establish the 
Law. The Sermon on the Mount shows us a full 
elaboration of this conduct according to the Word. 
Nor did He, like the Pharisees, lay heavy burdens 
upon others leaving them untouched Himself. The 
requirements of the Word are all fulfilled in His stain- 
less conduct, that His righteousness might be our 
gift through faith, and our example in the conduct 
that flows from faith. He, the Master, washes the 



128 His Footsteps. 

feet of the disciples, that they may follow Him in 
the humble service of love. And the power of His 
Spirit dwelling in our hearts makes His yoke easy 
for us and His commandment sweet and not grievous. 

In a special way Jesus uses the sword, "it is writ- 
ten." against the foe. He takes no other weapon who 
had every other weapon. '1 lie arguments of reason, 
the appeals of emotion, the shafts of ridicule are too 
slight for the battle against error, He takes the invin- 
cible and ever-effective artillery of the Word. His 
method of warfare is exceedingly simple: He places 
the mighty truth of God in square opposition to the 
errors of men. Sometimes it is with a simple enuncia- 
tion of the truth, as in the great temptation; or in 
the form of a question from which there is no escape. 
Sometimes it is with elaborate argument to shatter 
error and show its falseness, and thus to convince 
the heart and turn the will; or with loving admoni- 
tion and earnest warning to win the soul from danger 
and destruction. Nor does He shrink in false effem- 
inacy from giving the friends of error their proper 
name, when they decide against the truth. Men may 
choose error rather than truth, but if Jesus cannot 
win them He always vanquishes them. And He has 
given us an example that we should follow in His 
footsteps. 

One more use Jesus made of what is written for 
our learning. He refers to Sodom, to Nineveh, to 
Noe, to the Queen of Sheba, to Abraham, to Lot's 
wife, to Isaiah, to Daniel, in admonition, exhortation, 
and warning. To follow in Christ's footsteps here is 
not merely to employ the riches of the Scriptures in 



// is Written. 129 

working upon others, but first of all in making our 
own hearts and lives rich from the inexhaustible fund 
that has been treasured for our learning first of all 
and for our preaching in the second place. He that 
is of God heareth God's word, as "it is written." 



CHAPTER XI. 

IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED. 

crT ESUS "was in all points tempted like as we are, 
•-JI yet without sin: let us therefore", following in 
^"^ His footsteps through this world so full of 
temptation, "come boldly unto the throne of grace, 
that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in 
time of need." 

We may take it for granted that the sacred record 
does not describe all the temptations through which 
Jesus passed. When He went out into the wilderness of 
Judaea for the very purpose of submitting Himself to 
the treacherous wiles of Satan, we are told that He 
was tempted of the devil for forty days. Luke i, 2. 
W nat this long continued temptation was we do not 
know, the Scriptures do not tell us. It may well have 
been that already before this, during the long sojourn 
in Nazareth, temptation of one kind or another ap- 
proached Jesus. It would not be strange that Satan 
should suggest to Him who knew His divine origin 
and mission so well, to break the long delay and to 
hasten His efforts before the appointed hour. Israel 
was sorely oppressed, the spiritual distress of the 
chosen people was lamentable indeed. Why then 
should Jesus with all His power to rescue and to save 
remain inactive so long? He was the Son of God 



In All Points Tempted. 131 

arid possessed divine power for working miracles. 
Why should He leave this power unemployed for so 
many years, when on every hand there appeared occa- 
sions inviting its exhibition? 

Certainly, the elements of temptation were present, 
and although the Scriptures pass over this long period 
in silence, we may well be permitted to assume that 
in one way or another He who was so severely 
tempted afterwards, found Himself assailed by Satan's 
wiles during the long years prior to His public min- 
istry. 

The entire life of Jesus as recorded by the Evange- 
lists, was exposed to temptation. Jesus Himself indi- 
cated as much when, on the night before His death, 
He said of His disciples: "Ye are they which have 
-continued with me in my temptations." They had 
not been with their Master at the triple temptation in 
the wilderness, but they had bravely held out at His 
side during the long warfare that followed, after they 
had become His disciples. Every attempt on the part 
of the Jews to draw Christ away from the path of 
humility and suffering set before Him by the Father's 
will, was certainly a renewal of the temptation of the 
wilderness. Every bit of the opposition, hatred, and 
fierce rejection Christ met at the hands of the chosen 
people, when He refused to live up to their ideal of 
the Messiah, was a repetition of this temptation in dif- 
ferent form. Aside from single well-marked in- 
stances, there was thus a constant cloud of temptation 
about the head of the Son of God who had come as 
the Son of man. In ever varied form came the in- 
sidious voice: Why adhere to this road of humility, 



lo2 His Fool steps. 

suffering, and death? Why not cast off the mantle of 
lowliness, and step forth in glory and majesty as the 
King of Thy people and of all the earth? 

We know that the disciples felt the constant press- 
ure of this temptation surrounding Christ. They 
were only too ready to yield to its power. Up to the 
very ascension of their Master they held fast the vis- 
ion of an earthly restoration of the kingdom of Israel 
with Christ as the glorious Sovereign. Acts 1, 6. 
They shrank with dismay from the course of suffer- 
ing that ended in crucifixion. On the Mount of glori- 
fication Peter seems to have no ear for the conversa- 
tion of Moses and Elias with Christ concerning "His 
decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem"; 
his thoughts are bent chiefly on remaining amid the 
glory and beauty that surrounded him. Thus the dis- 
ciples helped to increase the burden of temptation for 
Jesus. Instead of bravely supporting His firm deter- 
mination to bide in the Father's path, they too tugged 
at His heart to choose a pleasanter road. 

The tremendous force of the temptation brought to 
bear upon Jesus is scarcely appreciated by us. In our 
lives we are bound to reckon on more or less of suf- 
fering; our glorious and pleasurable days are never 
one unbroken series, and we do not expect them to 
be. But Christ was the Son of God Himself; all the 
glories of heaven were completely His own. Suffer- 
ing and pain could not touch His body or soul with- 
out His freely submitting Himself thereto; every part 
of the humiliation was something extraneous and for- 
eign to the sinless, spotless nature of the Son of man, 
something He must freely submit to that it might 



In All Points Tempted. 133 

touch Him. The suggestion, therefore, for Him to 
avoid the path of bitterness and death was only an 
appeal for Him to take and use what was perfectly 
His own, and to put away what in its very nature was 
foreign to Him. He abhorred sin and the curse of 
sin — why then should He load Himself down with 
the awful burden, why should He touch at all the bit- 
ter cup? We can only in a manner appreciate the 
power of this constant temptation for Christ. 

Very likely the forty days in the wilderness were 
filled with thoughts of this kind for Him who. had just 
been consecrated to the greatest work of God. The 
three tests to which He was put at the end of those 
forty days by the great tempter in person were all in 
line with such suggestions. He had just received the 
Father's testimony: This is my beloved Son. Why 
then should He refrain from using His divine power 
in stilling His hunger by turning the stones of the 
desert into bread? He had come to win His people 
Israel for His kingdom, and being the Son of God 
and trusting the Word of His Father, that angel hands 
should bear Him up, why should He not by one 
overwhelming and stupendous display of His power, 
for instance, as Satan suggested, by leaping down 
from the very pinnacle of the temple into the midst 
of the astounded multitude, draw all men into ad- 
miration and worship of His heavenly power? Again, 
He had come to be the King of all nations; why 
then should He choose the thorny path of suffering 
and death to reach the throne, why should He not at 
once accept the sweeping offer of the tempter, and by 
one brief act of humiliation win the dominion held 



134 His Footsteps. 

out to Him? Subtle indeed were these temptations, 
framed with masterly cunning to apply powerfully to 
the heart of Jesus. The first Adam had fallen beneath 
such a treacherous attack, but the second Adam with- 
stood them like an invincible rock. 

In Gethsemane the same temptation recurred, in- 
tensified by the immediate prospect of measureless 
suffering- and death. He who had remained true to 
the Father's will, who had steadfastly set His face 
toward Jerusalem to undergo there all that the proph- 
ets had foretold, was now confronted by the inde- 
scribable agonies that awaited Him. What He had 
borne hitherto was only a foretaste of what was now 
to be laid upon Him. With overwhelming vividness 
all the tortures of the coming hours rose before His 
mind. All the curse of the world's sin, making Him 
a curse for us, all the deadly wrath of God and all 
the fury of hell stood before the pure and innocent 
soul of Jesus. Should He pass through it all? Should 
He plunge headlong into this deadly abyss? Soul and 
body recoiled. All that was human in Jesus shrank 
back like flesh from the fiery blast. Being in agony 
He prayed that, if it were possible, the cup might 
pass from Him. Our imagination fails to picture the 
full depth of the conflict in the heart of the Savior. 
If it had been possible to save us without drinking 
down to the last drop this awful cup of suffering and 
death, Jesus would have embraced that possibility. 
Rut there was no other way. His determination to 
save us even at this cost stood divinely firm. Here 
too the tempter failed. Christ endured even the cross. 

Two other temptations, somewhat similar to the 



In All Points Tempted. 135 

one in the desert and the one in Gethsemane, are re- 
corded in the gospels. The first came through Peter 
when Jesus foretold His suffering. Taking the Mas- 
ter aside, the apostle began to rebuke Him, saying, 
"Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto 
Thee." Here already the tempter tried to repel Christ 
by the awful prospect of suffering which at last was 
set before His soul with such power in Gethsemane. 
But the first battle was lost like the last. "Get thee 
behind me, Satan, thou art an offense unto me: for 
thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those 
that be of men." This was the answer of Jesus. Un- 
wittingly Peter had lent his thoughts and lips to be 
the tools of the tempter. 

At another time, when Christ had fed the multitude 
with bread miraculously multiplied, they would have 
taken Him and made Him king. As in the desert, so 
here on the hills of Galilee, the tempter came with 
the alluring prospect of earthly power and dominion, 
if possible to turn Christ from the path appointed by 
the Father. And here again the disciples, it seems, 
were only too ready to second the tempting proposal. 
But Christ made haste to send them away in a boat 
across the lake, while He withdrew from the eager 
multitude and went up into the mountain alone. 
Once already and once for all the dangerous thought 
of an earthly crown and an illusive earthly dominion 
over men had been put away by Christ, and all the 
further machinations of the tempter were of no avail. 

A whole list of secondary temptations is scattered 
throughout the gospel records. Again and again the 
enemies of Christ sought to entangle Him in His 



136 His Footsteps. 

words. They brought to Him a woman taken in 
adultery, with the question: "Moses in the law com- 
manded us that such should be stoned: but what 
sayest Thou?" Again a certain lawyer, tempting 
Him, inquired: "Master, what shall I do to inherit 
eternal life?" The Pharisees came with the difficult 
question of divorce, and at another time with the 
treacherous question of tribute to Caesar. The Sad- 
ducees tried their skill with the query concerning the 
woman who had married seven brothers in turn; and 
following them, the Pharisees with the inquiry regard- 
ing the great commandment in the law. At the insti- 
gation of the arch-tempter his emissaries exhausted 
their wicked ingenuity in efforts at bringing Christ 
into conflict with Moses, the prophets, and God Him- 
self. But in every single case they failed utterly. He 
whose will was so completely one with that of the Fa- 
ther that neither the fairest promises nor the most 
threatening dangers could turn His heart in the least, 
was not to be set at variance with His Father from the 
mighty task assigned Him on any question of lesser 
import. In every temptation the Son of man stood 
firm and victorious. 

And indeed the God-man could not fall; it was ab- 
solutely impossible for Him to sink in temptation 
and to sin. We must not lose sight of His divinity 
in looking at His humanity. If He had been only 
man, however perfect, the tempter might have van- 
quished Him ; there would have been at least the pos- 
sibility of defeat. But being the Son of God, there 
was not even the shadow of possible failure on His 



In All Points Tempted. 137 

part. His victory and our salvation were absolutely 
sure from the beginning. 

The divinity of Jesus, however, and the impossi- 
bility of His falling in temptation does not annul the 
reality of the temptation through which He passed. 
Because Christ was surely God He could not fall; 
but because Christ was also truly man He could be 
tempted. The temptations of Jesus were much like 
His sufferings in this respect; both were real, neither 
a mere appearance; both came upon Him from with- 
out, neither was due to any taint of sin in Him. 
When the tempter approached the God-man he had 
the very same power as when he approached Eve, and 
used it to the fullest possible extent. The terrors he 
set before the imagination of Christ were no empty 
pictures, they were dread realities, and Christ knew 
and felt their reality only too well. One glance at the 
prostrate form in the garden of agonies settles this 
question forever. In the same way, when the tempter 
tried to induce Jesus to make use of His divine power 
in establishing a kingdom without suffering, the 
power to which he appealed was real, and no one 
knew its reality and the possible results of its exer- 
cise so well as did Christ Himself. To be sure, the 
reason for which Satan tried to dissuade Christ from 
suffering, and to prompt His employment of power 
in building a kingdom, was utterly illusive. Re- 
demption and the kingdom of the redeemed could 
not become a fact without the cross. Satan's lie was 
the suggestion that the terrors of the cross might be 
omitted, and yet the kingdom of Christ be established. 
Every temptation contains a lie. But it was impos- 



138 His Footsteps. 

sible to deceive Christ in any way. He saw the lie 
in every instance, no matter how dexterously it was 
veiled and decked out with truth. The very heart of 
our joy is that the Father sent us a Savior who could 
be tempted indeed, but never deceived, and never 
overcome in temptation. 

In regard to the minor temptations of Christ we 
must likewise admit, that the difficulties they present 
are indeed real for man. And if Christ had been only 
man, it is certainly possible that some of the diffi- 
culties thus presented might have proved too hard for 
Him to solve, and might have accomplished Satan's 
purpose in really entangling Him. But the mind of 
the God-man at once pierced through every difficulty, 
however impossible its solution might appear to men. 
The shadows, being only shadows, could not but 
vanish before the sunlight of truth; and all the efforts 
of the prince of darkness were brought to nought. 

There is certainly a difference between the God-man 
and His followers as far as temptation is concerned. 
Even sinless Adam was not wholly like Christ, for 
Adam could sin, Christ could not. Likewise the 
angels in heaven, who withstood the tempter when 
he and his hosts fell from God, who are now con- 
firmed in holiness so that all possibility of their ever 
falling is forever removed, are not altogether in the 
same state as was Christ. In Him dwelt all the ful- 
ness of the Godhead; from the very moment of His 
earthly birth He was beyond the possibility of falling 
in temptation. The state reached by the angels of 
heaven after passing the test of temptation, the state 
Adam like the angels might have reached, had he used 



In All Points Tempted. 139 

the gifts of God aright, Christ had by virtue of His 
divine Sonship. We who have fallen and become 
subject to sin have ever in our own depraved hearts 
an ally of the tempter, the voice of our lustful flesh. 
In the heart of the ungodly this ally is complete mas- 
ter, leading them like helpless slaves to do the evil 
bidding of the devil. When there is no light and 
strength of God in the heart it is like a helmless, mast- 
less vessel, ready to be tossed and driven by every 
wind and wave. When Judas inwardly rejected Christ 
he was utterly helpless to repel the delusions by which 
Satan drew him to betray his Master. But even when 
the heart is enlightened and led by God, the tempter's 
wiles still find a response in the flesh that remains. 
For us there is in every temptation a conflict between 
the flesh and the spirit, the former stimulated and re- 
enforced by Satan and his helpers, the latter strength- 
ened and fortified by Christ and His Spirit. All this 
was different in Christ, since there was no shadow of 
evil in Him. He was tempted in all points like as we 
are, yet without sin. The tempter could never secure 
the slightest hold within his heart. He could marshal 
his powers without and dash himself with all his im- 
petuosity against the impenetrable walls; no hand 
within the fortress was raised to aid him, no voice 
inside cried out to cheer him on. The battle-ground 
was never within, as it always is more or less with us. 
In spite of these differences Christ fought and van- 
quished the tempter with the very weapons now placed 
in the hands of His followers. With omnipotent 
power He might have restrained Satan and driven 
him from His presence, but instead of thus shielding 



140 His Footsteps. 

Himself He allowed Himself to be led by the Spirit 
' into the fiercest heat of temptation. Satan was per- 
mitted to do his utmost, even to take the Son of God 
upon the pinnacle of the temple and to place Him 
upon a high mountain. Yet in thus entering the 
fiercest temptation there is no sign of rashness, no 
trace of vainglorious daring in Christ. He was called 
of God to fight all the power the foe might bring 
against Him, that thus he might be vanquished for us. 
In the battle, however, Christ grasped nothing but the 
Sword of the Spirit, the invincible Word of God. "It 
is written", is the one victorious reply. Reason with 
its ingenious human arguments is altogether dis- 
carded as wholly insufficient for the fray. There is 
no attempt at evasion, no sign of compromise, none 
of the subterfuges of human wisdom and expediency. 
The blow delivered by the Word of God ever strikes 
home; the victory is always complete and fully de- 
cisive. 

When now we attempt to follcAv in the victorious 
footsteps of Jesus, we must remember, for one thing, 
that we fight against a vanquished foe, for another, 
that Christ fights at our side, and for a third that we 
are not to fight the mighty battle of Christ over again, 
but only so much of the war with the routed foe as 
Christ, our Captain, allots to us. If then, with sin 
clinging to us, we are not to be compared in strength 
with the God-man, neither is the conflict to which we 
are called such as to require on our part the strength 
of the Son of God. "God is faithful who will not suf- 
fer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but 
will with the temptation also make a way to escape, 



hi All Points Tempted. 141 

that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Cor. 10, 13. Un- 
der the hand of Jesus, temptation has lost its terrors 
for Christ's followers. "My brethren, count it all joy 
when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this 
that the trying - of your faith worketh patience." James 
1, 2. The tempter's power is broken for those who 
share the victory of Christ. He can go only as far 
as his chain permits; he can strike only with the little 
strength left in his broken arm. "Resist the tempter 
and he will flee from you." There is always a way 
of escape for us; there is always help more than suf- 
ficient awaiting our call in prayer; there is always 
victory and the blessed fruit of victory prepared for 
us under the leadership of Christ. If we to-day were 
set in Christ's stead to fight unaided in our weakness 
the unbroken power of the arch-enemy, we might well 
despair; but now our hearts should ring with joy. 

Although our temptations are not to be compared 
in severity with those of Jesus, they are fierce and 
dangerous enough. The weaker our faith and the 
stronger our flesh, the greater the danger of our fall- 
ing. And yet they who are deeply rooted and 
grounded in Christ, who are far advanced in knowl- 
edge, diligent and fervent in Christian obedience, are, 
for this very reason, liable to some of the most insid- 
ious attacks of the tempter. Using their strong 
faith he tries to mislead it as in the first and second 
tempation of Christ in the desert, employing the Word 
of God itself for his unholy purposes. By his cun- 
nings arts he tries to make us mistake the voice of 
our own wisdom for that of God, our own selfish satis- 
faction, advantage, and glory for the purpose and 



142 His Footsteps. 

will of God. The more Christian knowledge we pos- 
sess, the more difficult and trying the problems Satan 
seeks to set before us for our entanglement. The 
greater our piety and obedience, the more cunning 
the evil one's attempts at filling us with pride, secret 
self-righteousness, and neglect of true humility and 
repentance. Thus the higher we stand the more 
deeply we may fall. The ways of providence are full 
of mystery. Godly Job could not understand why he 
should be so severely afflicted. The dealings of God 
in the kingdom of grace are often beyond our com- 
prehension. St. John the Baptist could not under- 
stand why Christ should delay His mighty judgments 
over His enemies. The problem of the cross often 
troubles the Christian heart sorely; likewise the con- 
dition of the visible church on earth, in the midst of 
battles and trials, hampered bv weakness and imper- 
fection, and harrassed by opposition from without and 
treachery from within, often puts our hearts to the 
severest tests. And many fall, when, instead of turn- 
ing to Christ and His Word, as did the Baptist, they 
listen to the voice of the world's wisdom or to the folly 
of their own thoughts. 

Moreover, however well fortified a Christian heart 
may be in some things, certain weak spots always re- 
main. We are never wholly free from error and pre- 
judice. Some are especially inclined to pride, some 
to despondency, doubt, fear, some to avarice, some to 
fleshly lusts, some to anger and undue severity, some 
to false ease and carelessness. And Satan knows only 
too well how to strike us where we are least able to 
resist. He leads Peter into rashness; John and James, 



In All Points Tempted. 143 

the sons of thunder, into the desire of calling down 
fire upon the heads of the inhospitable Samaritans; 
and Judas into hypocrisy, theft, and treacherous re- 
venge. In addition to the faults that still beset us, 
there are evil hours, when our personal condition and 
the circumstances that surround us afford peculiar ad- 
vantages for the tempter's power. When Christ was 
hungry after a fast of forty days, the tempter drew 
nigh. When body and mind are weak, when friends 
turn from us and life grows dark, the tempter is ready 
to begin his attack. He loves to strike a deadly blow 
when we are down. 

Satan seldom fights with an open face, he prefers 
disguise and ambush. Moreover, he leads us on into 
evil step by step. Pretending to be an angel of light 
he often veils his treacherous suggestions behind the 
Word of God itself. The Scriptures warn us espe- 
cially against "the wiles of the devil" and "the deceit- 
fulness of sin." We are told of "the deceitfulness of 
riches" and of "the deceivableness of all unrighteous- 
ness." The cup of pleasure is sweet and alluring till 
we have swallowed the poisonous dregs. "Look not 
thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his 
color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the 
last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an ad- 
der." Prov. 23, 31. 32. Satan ever tries to conjure 
up pleasures, profits, and advantages before our ready 
imagination. "When the woman saw that the tree 
was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the 
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she 
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also 
unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Gen. 3, 



144 His Footsteps. 

6. By dexterously veiling the beginnings of sin be- 
neath a show of innocence or permissibility, the great 
deceiver has lured many over the brink of the preci- 
pice. "When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth 
sin ; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." 
James 1, 15. Small beginnings, to which we give an 
unwitting consent, sometimes lead to dreadful catas- 
trophes. Once fairly launched upon the inclined plane 
there is no avoiding the inevitable downward plunge. 
Resist dangerous and doubtful beginnings. 

"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? 
By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word." Ps. 
119, 9. The one invincible weapon against the temp- 
ter is the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. 

"This world's prince may still 
Scowl fierce as he will, 
He can harm us none, 
For he is judged — undone; 
One little Word o'erthrows him." 

By keeping in the path of God's commandments we 
will avoid hundreds of temptations that would fall 
upon us if we dared to deviate to the right or to the 
left. Moreover, the Word of God is full of light, 
showing us the treachery of Satan and laying bare his 
guile. The blind fall into the ditch, but not they 
whose eyes are annointed with the Word of truth. 
Hundreds of sore perplexities are unraveled by the 
testimonies of the Lord, when like David we take 
them for our counsellors. The Scriptures solve the 
mystery of the cross; enlighten us concerning the hid- 
den ways of Providence which makes all things work 
together for our eternal good; lead us safely out of 



In All Points Tempted. 145 

all the mazes of error and deceit, give to our faith an 
anchor in the wounds of Christ from which no tempest 
shall drive us. The Word of God is the power of God 
to make our weak hearts strong against the world 
and the flesh. By the Word of God the Spirit of God, 
together with Father and the Son, enters our hearts 
to support us in every trial. We cannot fail when 
God is with us. The Word of God is the arsenal of 
prayer, and the artillery of prayer shatters the mach- 
inations of Satan. Therefore arm thyself with the 
Word; be ready with the answer: "It is written"; 
flee beneath its shield, behind its walls, back of its 
armament in every hour of danger; follow its coun- 
sels and commands, watch and pray in its strength. 

The divine Word is our salvation in temptation and 
our hope when we fall. Peter fell; he that standeth 
let him take heed lest he fall. But the moment a 
fallen follower of Christ goes back to the Word, he 
will be led to repent, he will find forgiveness, he will 
be re-instated in grace as was Peter, the fallen and re- 
instated apostle. Satan's victory is not won until we 
give up the Word, forget to repent, and reject for- 
giveness. 

Christ was tempted, and so will they be who follow 
His footsteps. Under the guidance of God tempta- 
tion will serve to exercise and increase our strength, 
to call out our prayer, to arm ourselves fully with the 
Word of God, and to look with sympathy and charity 
upon our fellow-Christians. "Be sober, be vigilant; 
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, 
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom 
resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same 




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CHAPTER XII. 

BEHOLD THE LILIES OF THE FIELD. 

(tTESUS is our model in understanding and utilizing 
^1 the great kingdom of nature in the midst of 
^^ which we are placed. 

Jesus had an eye for all the world of nature about 
Him. The little gnat, the worthless sparrow, the hair 
falling unheeded from man's head were heeded by the 
Son of man. The lilies in their beauty, the sky with 
its ruddy evening tints, and man in his festive joy 
found a response in the heart of Him who had dwelt 
amid the glories of heaven. The silent motion of the 
wheat germ in the hidden earth, the mysterious move- 
ments of the finny tribe in the watery deep, all the secret 
stirrings of thought, affection, and will in the human 
king of creatures were like an open book to the master 
mind that stood above them all. 

Everywhere the eye of Jesus beheld the hand of God 
in nature. When a sparrow falls from the roof it is 
not an emptv chance, an impersonal law, but the will 
of God that He perceives. The lilies growing in silent 
beauty are clothed not by the independent hidden 
fcrces of nature, but by the bounteous hand of nature's 
God. The king ruling over his subjects, the slave 
toiling at his tasks, the children at their play are not 
the idle evolutions of natural laws, but the works of a 



148 His Footsteps. 

divine Creator and God. It is He who made them all, 
who upholds and governs them all, who works out His 
infinite purposes in the lowest as well as in the highest 
of these His creatures. 

The discords and strifes in nature are likewise seen 
by the Master's eye, and their deepest cause is plain 
to His vision. The tares that infest the field, the stones 
that hinder its fruitfulness. the storms that beat upon 
the house, the tower that falls upon the unwary and 
crushes them, the disease that preys upon man's body, 
death with its grief and pain, the wrongs that pierce the 
life of man with their bitter cruelty — He knew them 
one and all. "An enemy hath done this," He tells us, 
and that enemy is the devil. The reason for his ability 
to produce such clashing where all should be harmony 
and joy is man's yielding to the enemy, man's sin. 

There is no man who does not to a greater or less 
extent, like Jesus, behold the things of the natural 
world; and to all who are not totally blind the hand 
of God will also be visible in His works, and besides 
His hand the finger of the enemy introducing discord 
and evil. But however perfect our vision may be, 
we must still confess: "Now we see through a glass, 
darkly — now I know in part." Our knowledge is like 
a caged bird, on every side, as we strive to fly, we strike 
the bars of ignorance and are constrained to confess, 
I do not know. For Jesus these bars do not exist, His 
insight and comprehension of nature in all its depart- 
ments is complete and perfect. It is His divinity that 
transcends infinitely in its knowledge and wisdom all 
that our intelligence is able to understand. We see its 
limitless reach of knowledge in every prophetic utter- 



Behold the Lilies of the Field. 149 

ance from the Savior's lips. He who beheld the great 
consummation, and drew its details for us with a mas- 
ter hand, was not confined in power of perception. 
when the little things of nature were presented to His 
view. And it would certainly have been marvellous, 
had the God-man known the greatest things of the 
kingdom of heaven, and not the little things of the 
kingdom of earth. 

In considering the Master's knowledge of earth we 
must not assume the perverted standpoint of science 
falsely so-called. Nowhere does Jesus attempt to re- 
veal to us the secrets of nature. He was the Savior 
of men, not a teacher of natural science. God gave 
man natural faculties, that for himself he might dis- 
cover the wonderful mysteries of earth and air and sky. 
Long centuries of time were given him in which to 
prosecute his investigations and gather his results. 
Moreover, the success of man in gathering and utiliz- 
ing the knowledge of nature for the purpose of earthly 
science is altogether of secondary importance. This 
knowledge is like money-wealth; man can live and 
reach the divinely appointed goal of his life with a 
small amount of it just as well as with a larger. It was, 
therefore, altogether unnecessary for Jesus to offer 
man any assistance in scientific attainments. His pur- 
pose could not be to unveil the wonders of astronomy, 
the marvels of chemistry, the intricacies of mathema- 
tics, the heights and depths of biology, or of any nat- 
ural science. All these departments of knowledge are 
valuable indeed, and meant for man's enrichment, but 
they are not necessary for man's salvation. The aim 
of Christ in all His teaching and work was to help man 



150 His Footsteps. 

where above all else he needed help and could not help 
himself, namely in obtaining salvation for his sinful 
and condemned soul. 

If then we look in vain for glowing displays of scien- 
tific knowledge in the utterances of Jesus, we can only 
recognize and adore His wisdom in making all His 
words subservient to a higher purpose. Nevertheless, 
the things of nature encompassing us on every side 
were most truly and perfectly known to Christ. And 
"most truly and perfectly" here means more than is 
found in the exactest and completest science among 
men. The truth and perfection of Christ's knowledge 
of earthly things appears in that inwardness of knowl- 
edge of which man in his fallen condition knows next 
to nothing. By laborious efforts we approach the ob- 
jects of our studies from without, picking up a fact here 
and a fact there, and piecing the fragments together 
as best we can, till at last in some measure our gen- 
eralizations and conclusions approach the reality. Not 
so Christ with His mind undarkened by sin. His 
knowledge of earth and its objects was like that of the 
first man when he named all the animals that God led 
before him, recognizing at a glance and without effort 
or error the true inward thought of the Creator in 
each of His animal creatures. We might call this 
knowledge intuitive, and yet the term does not say 
enough. It is that perfect knowledge which at once 
seizes the heart of all it perceives, which almost with- 
out effort comprehends the essentials in every creature, 
in every circumstance and situation. 

A fine exhibition of this true and perfect knowledge 
of Christ, and of its unerring penetration to the very 



Behold the Lilies of the Field. 151 

center of the subjects contemplated, is set before us 
in Christ's answers to the insidious questions of His 
foes. The outward film of circumstance, the puzzling 
difficulties of situation, the treachery of phrase and 
expression never troubled Him in the least; He grasps 
the heart of the matter at once, and scatters the diffi- 
culties that would entangle us, if we were to face the 
question, like so much chaff to the wind. Therefore 
the answers of Christ are always final; He touches the 
very bottom, and no man can go deeper; He reveals 
the very truth itself, and no man can do more. And 
if Christ was able to do this on the lofty plane of spirit- 
ual truth, it is evident the perfection and truth of His 
knowledge could not be less in the plane of nature. 
Here we find the same unerring penetration, the same 
perfection of insight and comprehension. It may 
seem strange to us that Christ does not proceed ac- 
cording to our imperfect fashion, that He does not 
labor with the outward crust of appearance and fact, 
and gradually work His way in till He touches the 
truth. In His comparisons and elucidation we may 
miss the inductions and deductions which we admire 
in man's thinking and writing; but never for a mo- 
ment should this difference mislead us in estimating 
Christ's perfect knowledge aright. 

Because Christ sees through the surface veil upon 
which our eyes are commonly fixed, He sees the things 
of earth in a light altogether different from that of the 
material eye. We have already stated that Christ be- 
holds everywhere the hand of God. Earth and air 
and sky and all that they contain are freighted with the 
thoughts of God. "The heavens declare the glory of 



152 His Footsteps. 

God : and the firmament sheweth His handiwork. Day 
unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth 
knowledge. There is no speech nor language where 
their voice is not heard." Ps. 19, 1-3. The true lan- 
guage of nature was understood by Christ to the last 
letter. The marvels of nature's harmonies and dis- 
cords, its sublime majesties and microscopic combina- 
tions, were to the mind of Christ more than natural 
science has been able to make of them; His eyes read 
everywhere the hand-writing of God. In the incompara- 
ble parables of the divine Teacher we have the finished 
interpretation of this hand-writing of God in nature. 
Sin has spoiled the perfect works of God, but even the 
discords and clashings of the natural world, lamentable 
though they be, speak through the lips of Christ in 
spiritual tones for our enlightenment and warning. 
Because sin has harmed us and placed us on the verge 
of death, the workings of evil in the world about us 
have their peculiar use in leading us upward to God 
and salvation. 

The robing of the lilies, the clothing of the grass 
tells us of the provident care of God. The dying spar- 
row and the falling hair from our heads proclaim God's 
infinite will without which even these could not lose 
their life and place. The bread and the fish in the 
child's hand, instead of the stone and the serpent, are 
types of the good gifts, even of the gift of gifts, which 
the Father in heaven gives to His children. The grapes 
that grow not upon thorns, the figs that are not pro- 
duced by thistles tell of the true Teacher, who is known, 
like the false, by His fruits. The narow gate and path- 
way, as distinguished from the wide gate and spacious 



Behold the Lilies of the Field. 153 

road, are the reflection of the true way of salvation. 
The house standing on the safe rock amid the raging- 
floods and howling winds, is the emblem of the wise 
heart building itself firmly upon the everlasting truth of 
God; while the shattered building, swept away from 
its sandy base by the tempest and the wave, is the em- 
blem- of the fool building his life upon his own conceit. 
The harvest ripe for the sickle is like the world of hu- 
mankind waiting for the reapers of salvation. The 
sheep lost and bruised and nigh unto death is like the 
soul of the sinner on the verge of destruction; the 
shepherd that leaves the ninety and nine and seeks the 
lost is like Christ Himself; and the woman that searches 
for her lost coin with candle and broom like the church 
in its efforts to save the fallen. The mustard seed, so 
small, and still producing so great a plant, is like the 
kingdom of grace in its marvellous growth from a little 
seed. The handful of leaven in its hidden work is like 
the secret power and influence of the kingdom from 
on high. The table set for the king's marriage feast is 
like the full provision of God's grace for man's salva- 
tion. The seed cast upon the ground, now choked, 
not crushed, now burned out by the sun, now finding 
proper soil, is like the Word cast into the hearts of 
men. The prodigal son returning to his father is like 
the sinner in his repentance. The tares amid the 
wheat are like the false Christians amid the true. The 
servants entrusted with the pounds by their master are 
like the followers of Christ set to serve Him with their 
gifts and at last receiving their gracious reward. The 
fig tree spared for another year is like the heart resist- 
ing the grace of God, while the time of grace draws 



154 His Footsteps. 

to a close. The beggar carried aloft by angel hands, 
and the rich man awaking in torment are types of the 
fate of the faithful and of the unfaithful. The open- 
ing beauties of spring are an emblem of the day of 
salvation at the end of the world. These are samples 
of Christ's teaching; here we see how He viewed the 
tilings about Him, and how He made use of what He 
saw. 

There is great danger of misunderstanding alto- 
gether this use which Christ made of earthly things 
for heavenly ends. The danger is, that we lose the 
real substance and retain only empty shadows. Be- 
cause all language is full of figurative expressions, 
more or less apt, we might think the language of Christ 
with its wealth of parables and comparisons is alto- 
gether on the same level. And since Orientals are 
generally extravagant in their use of symbols and pic- 
tures, the very abundance of parables in Christ's teach- 
ing might lead us to estimate it falsely on this account. 
They who doubt or deny the divinity of Christ are es- 
pecially tempted to see in the imagery of Christ's teach- 
ing little more than fine flights of a fanciful imagina- 
tion. When He speaks of heavenly things using 
earthly images, they refuse to believe that the reflec- 
tion of the heavenly in the earthly is true and real; they 
will not admit that the mirror of nature gives a true 
picture of the things that are above nature. They 
shrink back from any testimony of earth to heaven, of 
nature to the supernatural. Choosing the theory of 
unbelief, they shut their eyes to the facts of faith, lest 
their own foolishness and ignorant perversity be re- 
buked. They are sure that the deft pencil of Christ's. 



Behold the Lilies of the Field. 155 

imagination has painted on the glass what seems to be 
a rejection from its crystal surface. But all such theo- 
ries are both shallow and false. 

"The lover of truth which shall be loftier than him- 
self will not be moved from his faith — that these char- 
acters of nature which everywhere meet the eye are 
not a common but a sacred writing, that they are hiero- 
glyphics of God; and he counts this his blessedness, 
that having these round about him, he is therefore 
never without admonition and teaching." "The entire 
moral and visible world from first to last, with its kings 
and its subjects, its parents and its children, its sun and 
its moon, its sowing and its harvest, its light and its 
darkness, its sleeping and its waking, its birth and its 
death, is from beginning to end a mighty parable, a 
great teaching of supersensuous truth, a help at once 
to our faith and to our understanding." (Trench.) 
To follow in the footsteps of Christ at all includes of 
necessity a Christlike view of the things presented to 
our senses. Faith can not but see that the creation of 
God is not a haphazard work thrown together arbi- 
trarily without inward correspondence to God and to 
the higher things of God. Earth and heaven, the 
natural and the spiritual, belong together; they flow 
from one divine wisdom, and the lower always points 
upward to the higher. 

Christ's use of the things of nature in His teaching 
corresponds to His power over the whole range of 
nature. It is impossible that He whose divinity could 
multiply the bread and the wine; smoothen the waters 
and walk on the liquid surface, give back health when 
lost and even life to man, and compel obedience from 



156 His Footsteps. 

the spirits of another world, should not comprehend 
completely the true inwardness of what was thus sub- 
ject to His mastery. Only inasmuch as man knows 
nature can he make nature render him service. Na- 
ture's obedience to Christ as its divine Master is a per- 
fect testimony to His divine knowledge of nature. The 
obedience of evil to His divine commands is a like 
testimony to His divine knowledge of the powers of 
evil disturbing nature and hurting man. And there- 
fore even the tares of the field, the thistles and hard- 
ness that hinder the seed, and all the manifestations of 
sin in man must yield instruction, admonition, and 
warning to man through the teaching of Christ. Verily, 
never man spake like this Man, because never man 
possessed such insight and knowledge, such power and 
perfect mastery, as did this Man who was more than 
man. 

In attempting to follow the footsteps of Christ we 
can not think of rivalling His knowledge by indepen- 
dent exertions of our own. Yet we can learn from 
Him, and teach our hearts and eyes to see the things 
about us in the true light in which He saw them and 
set them before us. With the Spirit of Christ dwelling 
in us, something of the true wisdom must enlighten 
our hearts. The flowers of earth must speak of Him 
who clothed them so wondrously; the birds of the air 
must tell of their great Provider. The shepherd and 
his flock, the vine with its branches pruned and fruit- 
laden, the trees putting forth bud and bloom in spring- 
time will surely tell their story of the kingdom of grace 
and its consummation in the kingdom of glory. Nor 
will the Christlike heart need the special education of 



Behold the Lilies of the Field. 157 

the scientist or artist for the attainment and enjoyment 
of this Christlike wisdom. Such is the wonderful char- 
acter of the wisdom born of God that even the simplest 
heart is able to possess it. Nevertheless, the most 
refined culture may be combined with the wisdom of 
simplicity in reading God's handwriting everywhere. 
The astronomer studying the wonders of the starry 
constellations, the chemist with his mysterious experi- 
ments in the laboratory, the artist wielding pencil, 
brush, and chisel, the musician amid the harmonies of 
sound and the instruments for their production, the 
poet thrilled with the spirit of song and swept away 
by the Stream of his own great utterances, if treading in 
the footsteps of the Son of man, will ever be led up- 
ward and moved to lead others likewise. 

To be sure, for us who are born of earth, still tainted 
and surrounded by the influence of the world, there 
will ever be danger of going astray. Science is full of 
unbelief, the artist world pursues so many fleshly ideals, 
philosophy and poetry so often seek to advance man's 
glory more than God's. The antagonism has become 
so marked, that some of Christ's followers have come 
to think that human learning and culture is in itself a 
corrupt thing. Some churches have banished almost 
all forms of art from their worship, refusing to beautify 
their houses of worship with painting or sculpture and 
their services with uninspired poetry and instrumental 
music. It can not be denied that the theater pan- 
ders in the grossest manner to the flesh and has be- 
come utterly corrupt; the novel is far oftener a cup of 
poison than a chalice of purity and truth. And yet 
the culture of earth is no more tainted than the indus- 



158 His Footsteps. 

try and business of earth; the work of sin is simply 
everywhere, degrading every human relation and oc- 
cupation. But it would be wrong to flee out of the 
world, to break away altogether from the relations 
and occupations of earth, to discard wholly every form 
of human culture. Christ's followers are set to be the 
salt of the earth, a light amid the darkness of the world. 
By the aid of Christ's Spirit they are to substitute every- 
where and always for that which is base and sinful that 
which is Christlike and godly. Science and art are 
ours to put into the service of the Savior; all forms of 
culture are so many vessels for us to fill with godly 
contents. With Christ in the heart all our senses will 
be sanctified, our intelligence, affections, and will, our 
tongues, our hands, and every bodily member set 
against sin and devoted to righteousness, purity, and 
truth. The Christlike man is not to shun the things of 
nature, but to handle them indeed, after the example 
of Christ. 

And what wonderful service nature may be made to 
render man in Christ's footsteps! In the special work 
of Christ as a teacher of God, we see the dust of the 
earthly turned into imperishable fine gold by the touch 
of His divine hand. If Christ had discarded in His 
work the things He saw in nature and in man, many 
of the most glorious passages of the New Testament 
would never have been spoken and written. But 
now our hearts rejoice to read of the little mustard 
seed and the sprouting grain of wheat; and the story 
of the prodigal son has been made to tell us the very 
heart of the Gospel message. Something of this won- 
derful alchemy will reappear beneath the hands of 



Behold the Lilies of the Field. 159 

every follower of Christ when biding in His footsteps. 
Even when no special knowledge is ours, the Spirit of 
Christ will help us reap a precious harvest from the 
rich fields of nature on every side. The pearls of 
higher truth lie about in such abundance that Chris- 
tian eyes can not help but see some of them, and Chris- 
tian hands with little effort are able to gather a plen- 
teous store for themselves and for others. Likewise 
when a true Christian heart touches any of the sciences 
or any of the fine arts, nature will be ready to yield 
its highest and noblest service. How the heavens will 
declare the glory of God to the Christlike astronomer, 
and the deeps of earth to the Christlike geologists, 
and the beauties of the animal and plant world to the 
Christlike naturalist! The student of history, the man 
of letters, the painter of pictures, the writer of prose 
and verse, the lover of philosophy, each in his own 
field, will find his material like pliant clay willing to 
be moulded to the honor of God by hands that are 
godly indeed. Imperfections and faults there will 
always be, since no man is perfect and faultless as was 
Christ. Yet the fact remains, that to him alone who 
keeps in Jesus' footsteps the world about him will give 
its best and fairest service, and will give it in the meas- 
ure of his own Christlikeness. 

They who are base would wrest all things into the 
service of their baseness for their own debasement and 
destruction. The followers of Christ lift all things into 
the service of their Master for their own elevation and 
blessedness. "All things are yours; and ye are 
Christ's." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH. 

/^HRISTS relation to the church is our example 
1 \ in all that pertains to the married state. "Hus- 
^"^^ bands, love your wives, even as Christ also 
loved the church, and gave Himself for it." "Wives, 
submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto 
the Lord." 

The example of Christ which we, His disciples, are 
to follow, would not be complete, if it did not cover 
also the married state and all that is peculiar to it. 
[Marriage is not an accidental feature of life, it is alto- 
gether essential and of vital importance. The field 
embraced by marriage is so wide and extensive, that 
it exceeds some of the other normal conditions of 
human life, to all of which the example of Christ is 
plainly applicable. There would be a vacuum, there- 
fore, in the pattern left us by Christ for our life on 
earth, if His own life presented nothing in the nature 
of a model for the relation between man and wife. 

The married state is not a result of sin or a con- 
comitant of the fallen condition of man. Adam and 
Eve were joined in holy wedlock before the gates of 
Eden closed behind them. Marriage in itself is not 
necessarily sinful, any more than any other state of 
man; it stands on a plane with childhood, youth, 



As Christ Loved the Church. 161 

manhood, old age, and with the many legitimate 
relations of man to his fellows in this earthly life, in 
work, business, government, pleasure, sorrow. When 
the Scriptures speak of husbands and wives, they fre- 
quently continue in exhortation also to masters and 
servants, rulers and subjects. Married life, too, has 
certainly been tainted by sin, and the results of sin 
have worked themselves out in their own lamentable 
way in this estate. But we find the same taint of 
sin in every human relation, each with its own deplor- 
able peculiarities. As the child and as the man is. 
sinful, so also is the husband and the wife; as the 
master and the servant are gone out of the way, so 
also the two who are one flesh. Yet for this very 
reason marriage also enjoys the fruits of Christ's 
redemption. It is no more debarred from the purify- 
ing and sanctifying power of Christ than is any other 
natural human condition. As the child, the youth, 
the man must become Christlike in the very elements 
which are essential to childhood, youth and man- 
hood, so are also the husband and the wife to become 
Christlike, not merely in what pertains separately to 
manhood and to womanhood, but also and partic- 
larly in what pertains to the marital union and life. 
Christ has left us an example, that we who are hus- 
bands and wives should, as such, and in the very 
things that pertain to us as such, follow in His foot- 
steps. The divine image can be and ought to be 
realized also in the essentials of the Christian married 
life. 

Rome casts a halo of sanctity about celibacy, and 
yet it makes marriage a sacrament. Neither is cor- 



162 His Footsteps. 

rect. Peter was not less holy than Paul although 
the former had a wife and the latter none; there was 
nothing in the estate of either to hinder them from 
being equally Christlike. Marriage is marriage even 
among unbelievers, and there is nothing sacramental 
about it, no visible sign, and no gift of divine grace, 
no promise of the Gospel. The true Christian dignity 
of marriage is found not in some sacramental feature 
in the ceremony which unites man and wife for life, 
but in the similiarity of the entire married state of 
Christians to the far loftier and holier union between 
Christ and the church. And when this true dignity 
and glory of Christian matrimony is recognized, all 
the dreams of monks and nuns concerning the special 
sanctity of celibacy will vanish like shadows. 

When it is said that Christ is our example in the 
married state, we must be careful especially to hold 
fast one of the essential features of the example of 
Christ. We have more than a mere human pattern 
of flawless excellence in Christ; Christ is more, infi- 
nitely more, than an ideal of human perfection. He 
is the God-man, and His example is the divine image 
to which we are to be conformed. To be sure, this 
image appears in human form ; Christ was made in 
the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man. 
But that dare not render His example a mere human 
pattern of perfection, any more than it renders His 
sacrifice a mere human offering of a mere human 
person. Both the sacrifice and the obedience, which 
also serves as our example, are the work of the God- 
man, human indeed, and yet far above humanity, truly 
divine and the work of the Son. 



As Christ Loved the Church. 163 

If Christ's example, as left for us to follow, were 
only a pattern of human ideal perfection, then we 
might think it indispensable for the application of this 
example to us in marriage that He Himself should 
have entered and lived in this estate. But we have 
a far higher model in Christ, in what He was, and 
in what He did. We have the divine image itself in 
all its heavenly exaltation and glory, although clothed 
in the humility of humanity. And therefore it is not 
at all necessary for Christ to have passed through 
marriage Himself to be our example for the married 
state. Aside from the fact, that He was the God-man, 
and that there was no second of His kind, to whom He 
could have been joined, the pattern to which we are 
to be conformed, and which Christ has set for us, is 
no mere human model, however perfect and ideal, 
but a divine model, transcending everything merely 
of earth. This holds good for every side of Christ's 
life, and of our own inasmuch as it is to be a following 
in His footsteps, and therefore also of the relation of 
man and wife in marriage. 

The model for us to copy is therefore not a human 
marriage of Christ. Our model is the exalted relation 
between Christ and the church. At the first glance 
the disparity between this heavenly relation and our 
lowly earthly relation may seem too great for the one 
to be in any way conformed to the image of the other. 
But Trench says well of the lovers of truth: "To them 
the things on earth are copies of the things in heaven. 
They know that the earthly tabernacle is made after 
the pattern of things seen in the Mount (Ex. 25, 40; 
1 Chron. 28, 11. 12); and the question suggested 



164 His Footsteps. 

by the angel in Milton is often forced upon their 

meditations, — 

'What if earth 
Be but the shadow of heaven, and things therein 
Each to the other like, more than on earth is thought?' 

For it is a great misunderstanding of the matter to 
think of these as happily, but yet arbitrarily, chosen 
illustrations, taken with a skillful selection from the 
great stock and storehouse of unappropriated images; 
from whence it would have been possible that the 
same skill might have selected others as good, or 
nearly as good. Rather they belong to one another, 
the type and the things typified, by an inward neces- 
sity; they are linked together long before by the law 
of a secret affinity. It is not a happy accident which 
has yielded so wondrous an analogy as that of hus- 
band and wife, to set forth the mystery of Christ's 
relation to His elect Church. There is far more in 
it than this : the earthly relation is indeed but a lower 
form of the heavenly, on which it rests, and of which 
it is the utterance." We are not dealing with shadowy 
mysticisms when we make Christ's union with the 
church a model for the earthly marital union of Chris- 
tians. However high the one may seem and however 
far beneath it the other, the two are essentially alike. 
The church is in very truth and reality the bride and 
wife of the Lamb. Sin has debased marriage indeed, 
and yet the relation of the Christian man and wife is 
capable of being freed from this degradation of sin, 
and of being conformed to its exalted prototype and 
pattern, the marriage of Christ and the church. 



As Christ Loved the Church. 165 

When we come to examine the Scriptures on this 
point, we must marvel at the fulness and clearness of 
its utterances. The Old Testament is full of passages 
treating of the church as the daughter, the virgin, the 
betrothed, the bride, the wife, and of God as bound 
by the marriage tie to this His church. The New 
Testament takes up these thoughts of the Old Tes- 
tament, and lends them new force and beauty through 
the love of the Lamb and the Lamb's sacrificial death. 
Compare on the Old Testament Is. 37, 22; Cant. 7, 1; 
Jer. 31, 4; Lam. 2, 13; Amos 5, 2; Zechariah 9, 9. 
On the New, 2 Cor. 11, 2; Rev. 12; 19, 7; 21, 17. 

It is not a mere figure, it is the fullest, deepest, heav- 
enliest reality, when God declared to the church: 
"And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I 
will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in 
judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. 
I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and 
thou shalt know the Lord." Hos. 2, 19. 20. David 
in the 45th Psalm has glorified this heavenly be- 
trothal and marriage by the the sacred melody of song 
and music. And Solomon has pictured all the love 
of the divine bridegroom, all the longing and the 
beauty of the heavenly bride in words of such purity 
and exaltation that nothing has ever exceeded them. 
Jesus calls Himself the Bridegroom and His disciples 
the friends of the Bridegroom. In two parables He 
treats of His marriage to the church. Paul calls 
Jerusalem which is above the mother of us all. And 
the New Testament vies with the Old in the terrible- 
ness of its denunciation of the unfaithfulness of the 
church, when this heavenly marriage tie is broken. 



166 His Footsteps. 

Infidelity, idolatry, apostasy are characterized as in 
truth the most shameful adultery. 

To be sure, it requires an effort for us who live 
amid sin and sin's doings to free our thoughts from 
all that mars our ideas of human marriage, and to rise 
to the truth and beauty of this relation as it binds 
Christ and the church in the transcendent purity of 
heaven. But the very effort of picturing this blessed 
"mystery" to our minds with the Spirit's help is al- 
ready an elevation of our conception of the marriage 
state of God's children. St. Paul, in the classical 
passage, Eph. 5, 22-33, has made fullest use of this 
divine pattern of Christ's connection with the church 
in showing what our marriage bond should be. Let 
it be noted that the apostle does not take human mar- 
riage as only a figure for elucidating and picturing 
Christ and His union with the church. He does the 
very opposite; he is giving practical admonitions to 
wives, husbands, children, masters, and servants; and 
for the proper enforcement of these admonitions to 
husbands and wives directs their attention to the great 
model set before them in Christ and the church. 
"The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ 
is the head of the church. ' "Husbands, love your 
wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave 
Himself for it." "As the church is subject unto 
Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in every- 
thing." Here is no mere analog}-, here is true like- 
ness. Our marriage is a human copy of Christ's re- 
lation to the church, as Moses' tabernacle was a copy 
of that on the Mount. For this very reason a number 
of the deepest, truest, and loftiest admonitions follow. 



As Christ Loved the Church. 167 

It is wonderful what a firm and solid basis we have 
when we keep to the Word of Him who made human 
marriage after the heavenly image, and when we seek 
out His intentions and purposes as He Himself de- 
clares them. As long as we follow the ignis fatuus of 
our own imaginary wisdom in dealing with the mar- 
riage question and its branches in the woman ques- 
tion and questions, we flounder and grope about in 
the dark. Some have thus condemned marriage and 
advocated the rankest form of fornication. Some 
have fallen back on mere natural laws and bounded 
their highest conceptions of the tie between man and 
wife by notions only a few degrees higher than those 
pertaining to the animal world. Some have per- 
verted the divine gifts of manhood or of womanhood, 
of husbandhood or wife and motherhood, debasing 
the one by falsely exalting the other, harming and 
hindering both in their true functions and divinely in- 
tended blessedness by misjudging their proper rela- 
tion and misconceiving their divine intention. Man 
can only guess at false analogies when the true model 
and the divine pattern is lost. But the moment we 
find that heavenly pattern and read it with enlight- 
ened eyes, our errors disappear, and each item of the 
problem that has vexed us falls into its proper har- 
monious place. 

The model as Paul outlines it is as follows: as 
Christ is the head of the church, so the husband is 
the head of the wife; as Christ loved the church and 
gave Himself for it, so must men love their wives; as 
the church is the body of Christ, so the wife is the 
body of her head the husband; as Christ, the head of 



1G8 His Footsteps. 

the church, nourishes and cherishes the church, His 
body, so the husband, the head of the wife, must 
nourish and cherish his wife, who is his body, his 
other self, his own flesh; as the church recognizes 
Christ, its head, and is subject unto Him, so the wife 
must recognize her husband as her head, and submit 
herself to him and hold him in reverence. One 
thought governs all these deductions of the apostle: 
our marriage is the human counterpart of the heav- 
enly marriage of Christ and the church. 

It is, however, only a human counterpart, a copy 
in inferior material, therefore the glories and excel- 
lencies of the original will not find a perfect and com- 
plete reflection in the copy. St. Paul sees all the di- 
vine beauty of the heavenly- Bridegroom and of the 
church, His bride. He is the Savior of His body, 
of His church; this a human husband cannot be in 
the same sense for his wife. Christ gave Himself for 
the church; this divine love and sacrifice far tran- 
scends any human affection. Christ sanctifies and 
cleanses the church, presenting it to Himself a glori- 
ous church without wrinkle or spot, altogether holy 
and without blemish; again this cannot be perfectly 
copied in the clay of human marriage. But if the 
union of Christ and the church has heavenly glories 
of love and sacrifice and sanctification which cannot 
be transferred as such to husbands and wives, let us 
not forget that at least the reflection of these glories 
can be embodied in human marriage to a certain ex- 
tent. The moon does not glow with the dazzling 
splendor of the sun's glorious rays, it only reflects the 
limited light it is able to receive. So the sun of 



As Christ Loved the Church. 169 

Christ's love for the church, shining upon the humble 
bond of Christian marriage, will not produce another 
sun, a rival in brightness; nevertheless it will call out 
a beautiful reflection of its own true light of love, as 
rich and as full, as the reflecting medium is able to 
yield. 

The first thing we desire to note in the example of 
Christ and the church for the relation of husbands 
and wives is the lofty foundation on which the marital 
union is made to rest. There is more than the idea of 
mutual utility and benefit; there is more than pleas- 
ure and ideal delight and genial companionship; there 
is more even than a bare bond of duty, pleasant or 
otherwise. To be sure, Christian marriage has its 
benefits not to be despised, pleasures and joys in- 
tended by God Himself, and bonds of duty as strong 
and as noble as any known on earth. But the model 
of the divine union between Christ and the church 
shows us a deeper principle and foundation for Chris- 
tian marriage than utility, pleasure, or duty. Christ 
and the church are one in spirit, one in heart, one in 
mind. This is the essence of their union, making it* 
at once perfect, glorious, and everlasting. "If any 
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." 
"As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are 
the sons of God." "Know ye not that ye are the 
temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." 
More than this, Christ Himself declares to His dis- 
ciples: "I in you and you in me"; "Ye are the 
branches, I am the vine, abide in me." And St. Paul 
speaks of the same thing when he says: "We are 
members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." 



170 His Footsteps. 

Christ and the church are joined indissoluably be- 
cause they are one, one in reality, so much so, that 
Christ would not be what He is, namely the glorious 
Head of the church, without this union between Him- 
self and the church. 

One spirit, one heart, one mind — this is the hight 
of perfection in Christian marriage. One in the 
things of the Spirit, in Christian faith, love, fervor, 
devotion, service; spirit joined to spirit in the highest, 
holiest privileges, duties, and hopes of God. One in 
heart, in the affections, loves, friendships of Chris- 
tian earthly life; heart joined to heart in the duties, 
trials, delights, and achievements of earthly relations. 
One in mind, in the aims of thought, in the modes of 
thought, in the loving interchange of thought. This 
complete oneness, corresponding to the union of 
Christ and the church is not attained where husband 
and wife are spiritually sundered, where heart and 
heart are separated by a gulf of diverse and conflicting 
affections, where mind antagonizes mind in the aims, 
mode, and expression of thought. 

So-called mixed marriages, where husband and wife 
hold differing beliefs and belong to different churches, 
preclude from the start the chief Christian element of 
marriage. A Jew and a Christian, a Romanist and a 
Protestant, a Baptist and a Lutheran, cannot be one 
in spirit as Christ and the church are one. And in 
the same way, although to a far less decree, so-called 
misalliances hinder the oneness that should bind heart 
to heart and mind to mind. When the disparity be- 
tween husband and wife is too great, the two cannot 
well walk hand in hand as do Christ and the church. 



As Christ Loved the Church. 171 

We must ever remember that the element of sexual 
attraction and passion in itself cannot bridge over 
these differences, for in itself it cannot constitute the 
bond of Christian oneness in marriage. In fact, this 
element is most deeply tainted with sin, and must be 
elevated and purified by the spirit of the new Chris- 
tian life, so that it too may take its proper place in 
the holy Christian bond. The worst marriages of all, 
from the point of view of Christian perfection, are 
those formed merely on the strength of sexual pas- 
sion, of love as the world knows and follows it, or of 
unworthy worldly calculation on riches, social posi- 
tion, and the like. They are the worst, because the 
bond of oneness is worldly, sinful throughout, and 
least like the bond that unites Christ and the church. 

As is the tie that unites husband and wife, so will 
be the happiness resulting from their union in the 
married state. Only where spirit, heart, and mind are 
one in Christ will that lasting happiness result which 
the world knows not and cannot know. To be sure, 
this new and sanctifying bond with is resultant Chris- 
tian happiness may be wrought by the Spirit of 
Christ, where it does not at first exist between man 
and wife. And perhaps there are very few marriages 
possessing this bond with any full measure of strength 
from the start. The great aim of all Christian hearts 
must ever be to grow in Christian oneness through the 
power of Christ and His Spirit. 

From all that has thus been said it will be clear that 
woman, and woman also and especially in her wifely 
relation, finds in Christ and under Christ alone the 
elevation which she seeks in vain in the world. No 



172 His Footsteps. 

human philosophy or dream of woman suffragist or 
emancipator lias ever reached an ideal to compare in 
excellence, truth, and blessedness with the model set 
for wives in the church as united with Christ. The 
heathen world knew only to make woman a slave; 
the Jewish world left her greatly encumbered and sub- 
jected to man's wilfulness; the medieval world made 
her a foolish object of fanciful chivalrous devotion; the 
modern world of unbelief makes her a rival and com- 
petitor of man to the hurt of both. The Scriptures 
alone make her what God intended, the true help- 
meet of her husband, one with him in spirit, heart, 
and mind; yet not identifying both, or obliterating 
their differences, as we shall see, not making another 
man of woman, or another woman of man, but linking 
both together in the true and blessed oneness of head 
and body, and these united in Christ. 

Christ and the church are one, yet He is the Head, 
and the church is the body. The Christian husband 
and wife are to be one in Christ, yet he is to be the 
head, and she is to be the bodv. These terms describe 
both the oneness that binds together husband and 
wife, and their distinctive differences in the union thus 
formed. Can there be a closer union than that be- 
tween the head and the body? Therefore, "he that 
loveth his wife, loveth himself." Can there be a 
clearer distinction than that between the head and the 
body? The one is not the other, the one has powers 
and duties not possessed by the other. To confound 
the two produces a monstrosity, a double head with- 
out a bodv, or a double bodv without a head. 



As Christ Loved the Church. 173 

The duty of the Christian husband as the head of 
the wife is, according to the words of St. Paul, the 
love that governs, provides for, nourishes and cher- 
ishes the wife as the body, even as the Lord the 
church. The duty of the Christian wife corresponds 
to this love of the husband; it is the love that obeys, 
reverences, and devotes itself to the husband as the 
head, even as does the church in respect to Christ. 
On both sides there is love, the love that is sanctified 
in Christ; and this after the example of Christ's love 
toward the church, and of the church's love toward 
Christ. And yet this love of each has its own sphere 
of manifestation. The one is the love of the head for 
the body, the other of the body for the head; the one 
governs and leads, the other reverences, obeys, fol- 
lows. Yet, being love, there is no trace of tyranny 
in the one, and no sign of slavishness in the other. 
The one love provides, nourishes, cherishes, the other 
love receives and returns every gift with hearty devo- 
tion and service ; and yet being love in each instance, 
there is the true spirit of self-sacrifice in both, as 
Christ gave Himself for the church, and as the 
church gives itself unto Christ. Each delights in the 
peculiar love of the other, neither is dissatisfied with 
the love he or she is to manifest and is in turn to re- 
ceive. And from this mutual interchange there flows 
the never-failing stream of Christian marital happi- 
ness. This is the scriptural ideal of holy wedlock. 

Whatever is done on the part of the husband or of 
the wife to contravene the bidding of St. Paul as here 
set forth spoils the Christlikeness of their marital 
union. As we see from the Scriptures, it is not neces- 



174 His Footsteps. 

sary to spin out details. All details arrange them- 
selves when husband and wife constantly hold to 
Christ and seek to follow St. Paul's bidding: "Nev- 
ertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his 
wife even as himself; and the wife see that she rever- 
ence her husband." 

It only remains to state that this Christlikeness in 
marital love is the necessary first link in the Christ- 
likeness that is to manifest itself further on in the rela- 
tion between parents and children, masters and serv- 
ants, and between governments and subjects. 



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CHAPTER XIV. 

HE TOOK THEM UP IN HIS ARMS. 

@NE of the most beautiful and suggestive pictures 
of Jesus is that which exhibits Him surrounded 
with little children, stooping down to lift them 
in His arms, and laying His hand in blessing upon 
their heads. His treatment of little ones is the per- 
fect pattern for all who follow in His footsteps and 
have anything to do with children. 

"These little ones", as He repeatedly called them, 
are very important to Jesus. When He gathered 
them around Him, He intended far more than simply to 
entertain Himself with their innocent ways, to de- 
light them with His kindness and love, or to instruct 
them with some lesson from His store of wisdom. 
"Of such is the kingdom of heaven", we hear Him 
say. This is the principle that governs His entire 
attitude toward children. They are meant for His 
kingdom; every infant counts as much in that king- 
dom as any adult. God's providence, Christ's re- 
demption, the Holy Spirit's sanctification are con- 
cerned with babes and sucklings as much as" with 
greybeards and hoary sages. It was impossible for 
the Son of God to pass by the little sons and daughters 
of men. "Suffer little children to come unto me, and 
forbid them not", means for children what, "Come 



176 His Footsteps. 

unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden", means 
for adults. Jesus blessing little ones is the same as 
Jesus at table with publicans and sinners, preaching 
to the multitudes at the sea-side, or dealing with 
scribes and Pharisees in the Holy City. With God 
there is no distinction of persons; in Christ's king- 
dom there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither bond 
nor free, neither man nor woman, and therefore we 
add, neither child nor adult. Xot the mere possibil- 
ities lying latent in a child render it so important 
in the eyes of Jesus; whether the babe will grow into 
a mighty apostle, become a holy martyr, climb the 
bight of sainthood, or not, the Savior's arms reach 
out to enfold it. What the child is, not merely what 
it may become, is enough to make it an object of 
Christ's solicitous love. Each little one is an immor- 
tal soul, lost in sin, needing salvation, therefore Jesus 
extends His arms to embrace it. 

Jesus met children with the same love with which 
He came to their elders, because He beheld all alike 
in sin. When He took young children into His arms 
to bless them, they truly needed His blessing. David's 
word concerning himself was true of each little in- 
fant, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity: and in sin did 
my mother conceive me." Ps. 51, 5. St. Paul in- 
cludes every child born of man when he writes: "As 
by one man sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin; so death has passed upon all men, for that all 
have sinned." Rom. 5, 12. Christ's own word is 
fully sufficient on this point: "Verily, verily I say 
unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 



He Took Them up in His Arms. 177 

That which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which 
is born of the Spirit is spirit." John 3, 5. 6. How- 
ever undeveloped the activity of sin may be in the 
infant, the sinful state is there, the great need of re- 
demption and regeneration. It is for this reason that 
God made special provision for children in the Old 
Covenant, and the New has by no means failed to 
provide to the fullest possible extent for infant needs. 
The children which Jesus met were members of the 
Jewish Church, and enjoyed the treasures of grace 
which God had already provided for them. Greater 
blessings and a richer measure of grace were to be 
theirs, now that the Redeemer had come. And no 
one was to deprive them of their heritage. "Take 
heed that ye despise not one of these little ones", is 
Christ's warning, "for I say unto you, That in heaven 
their angels do always behold the face of my Father 
which is in heaven." Matth. 18, 10. If the care of 
God's love for the children of His people Israel was 
so great that He appointed the angels of heaven to 
serve and shelter them, men would err greatly and sin 
against God, if they despised even a single one of these 
little ones. They who received the ministration of 
angelic servants were furthermore to be blessed by 
the service of the Son Himself. "For the Son of 
man is come to save that which was lost. How think 
ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them 
be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine,, 
and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which 
is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I 
say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than 
of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even 



178 His Footsteps. 

so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, 
that one of these little ones should perish." Matth. 
18, 11-14. The closing sentence of this parable con- 
cerning the lost sheep makes it apply especially to 
"these little ones." No one dare debar them from 
the Savior's love which seeks their salvation. 

When, therefore, Jesus welcomed little children and 
forbade His disciples to hinder those who brought 
them, He opened the way for the little ones who had 
received the grace of God in the Old Covenant to re- 
ceive also the added blessings of the New. Christian 
Baptism was not yet instituted, the time for that was 
not yet come; but the Savior was there, and His 
blessing could be received. Now the Old Covenant 
with its peculiar dispensation of grace has been abol- 
ished. Children to-day cannot come to Jesus having 
the Old Testament blessings as their own. When 
now we first bring them, they come with empty hearts ; 
and our object in bringing them is not that they may 
receive an added blessing to what they already enjoy, 
but the very first gift of grace from the Savior's hands. 
If, however, Christ desired so much to increase the 
blessings of Jewish children who had already tasted 
the grace of God, He surely desires much more now 
to bestow the first gifts of grace upon those who when 
they come are still altogether destitute. "Suffer the 
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not", 
is now an invitation to all children that they may be 
brought to Him and receive what their souls need, 
and when once they have been brought, to return 
again and again and to receive grace for grace. 



He Took Them up in His Arms. 179 

Through the Sacrament of Baptism they may be 
brought and laid into the Master's arms; through the 
ministration of water and of the Spirit Christ bestows 
upon them "the forgiveness of sins, deliverance from 
death and the devil, and the gift of eternal life." 
What greater blessing could any child receive? And 
when once our little ones have been brought to Jesus 
and blessed with His priceless gifts, they may be 
brought again and again, and indeed as soon as pos- 
sible come of themselves and keep on coming. By 
believing prayer for our children we approach the 
heart of Jesus, as did Jairus of old, when he begged 
the Savior's help for his little daughter. By prayer 
our children themselves have access to all the love of 
their Master. All that they need for body and soul, 
every grace and blessing, may thus be secured. And 
they who blindly withhold Baptism from their chil- 
dren, or in their coldness neglect prayer for them 
and omit teaching them to know the Savior and to 
pray to Him, greatly displease Jesus, and contemn His 
explicit command, "Suffer the little children to come 
unto me." 

Among the miracles of Jesus we find several 
wrought upon children. The little daughter of 
Jairus was raised from the dead; the nobleman's son 
was cured by a word; the daughter of the Canaan- 
itish woman was released from an evil spirit; the 
lunatic boy was healed. We are certain of the age 
of only one of these children — the daughter of 
Jairus was "about twelve years of age." The others 
may have been older or younger, but whether they 
were still in swaddling clothes or on the verge of 



180 His Footsteps. 

youth, we know that Jesus loved and helped them. 
And there is nothing to prevent us from believing that 
among the great number of sufferers of all kinds con- 
stantly brought to the feet of the great Helper were 
also many children of all ages, led by the hand, or 
borne by the arms of loving fathers and mothers. 
Likewise, we may well suppose, that where older peo- 
ple often hesitated and battled with doubt, these little 
sufferers were quick to trust their Helper and gladly 
allowed Him to touch them and bless them with the 
gift of healing. 

Jesus Himself declared that the hearts of children 
possess a special aptitude for His kingdom. He does 
not mean a condition of purity and innocence without 
sin, as some have supposed, but an openness, a trust- 
fulness, a willingness which makes it easy for Him 
to give them His greatest blessings. When men are 
brought to Jesus, they are too often inclined to doubt 
and gainsay, and the sins in which they have lived 
hold them fast till shaken off; not so "these little 
ones." Children have the disposition to which older 
people must return by the help of Christ, if they desire 
to obtain His gifts. When, on one occasion, the dis- 
ciples disputed among themselves who should be the 
greatest, Jesus called a child, and showed them in a 
living example the first elements of true spiritual 
greatness. When Jesus called, the child came; He 
set it in the midst of the disciples, and it made not the 
least objection to being thus placed; He took the little 
one into His arms, and gladly it allowed those arms 
to encircle it and press it to His bosom. There was 
no thought in the little heart of any excellence or de- 



He Took Them up in His Arms. 181 

serving goodness on its part for thus allowing Jesus 
to do with it what He pleased; there was no pride 
for its obedience, no self-praise for its trustfulness. 
Holding the child in His arms Jesus said to the dis- 
ciples, "Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be con- 
verted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter 
into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore 
shall humble himself as this little child, the same is 
greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matth. 18, 4. 5. 
"To allow oneself to be called, led, loved, without 
conceit and without doubt, in simple confidence, this 
is childlikeness; and as are children in their way, pos- 
sessing nothing and needing everything, able to do 
nothing and receiving everything, earning nothing 
and taking everything as a gift, so must all become 
through conversion who desire to enter the kingdom 
of heaven." (Besser). Verily, "of such is the king- 
dom of heaven", and "the same is the greatest in the 
kingdom of heaven." 

But for this very reason we dare not neglect chil- 
dren or fail to bring them to Jesus. The more ready 
they are for the reception of His gifts and grace, the 
greater would be our crime, if through fault of ours 
they should remain destitute. 

Despising children and disregarding our sacred ob- 
ligations towards them is the beginning of grievous 
offenses against them. Jesus erects a sheltering walL 
around every "one of these little ones which believe 
in Him", by His impressive warning against offenses. 
The warning with its reference to the dreadful penalty 
should be unnecessary for those who follow Christ's 
footsteps; but lest we forget and grow careless, it has 



182 His Footsteps. 

been uttered and recorded. "Whoso shall offend one 
of these little ones which believe in me, it were better 
for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, 
and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 
Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must 
needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by 
whom offense cometh!" Matth. 18, G. 7. Chief 
among offenses are those of an evil example. There 
are two sides to the evil men do, and therefore a 
double woe returning- upon the evil-doer. In itself 
the wickedness of men brings a curse upon them, and 
an additional curse results from the harm that such 
wickedness does to any of the "little ones which be- 
lieve" in Christ, whether these be children or immature 
adult believers. In any way to corrupt the trustful- 
ness of children, to taint their hearts with the impres- 
sions of doubt or dislike, to sow weeds of error or of 
sin, is a most grievous offense. "Ye fathers, provoke 
not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord." Eph. 0, 4. 

Next to actual offense stands criminal neglect. 
Jesus found time in His busy life to deal with chil- 
dren. A part of the Son's business was to take up 
little ones into His arms and bless them. Therefore, 
however exacting our labors may be, however great 
and necessary in themselves, we must find sufficient 
time to devote to the spiritual needs of "these little 
ones." As we dare not neglect so great salvation for 
ourselves, so also we dare not neglect it for our chil- 
dren. "Whoso shall receive one such little child in 
my name, receiveth me." Matth. 18, 5. "Whoso- 
ever shall receive one of such children in my name, 



He Took Them up in His Arms. 183 

receiveth me; and whosoever shall receive me, receiv- 
eth not me, but Him that sent me." Mark 9, 37. The 
greatness of serving little ones is thus sufficiently stated 
for Christ's followers. As He Himself and His angels 
disdained not to devote themselves to babes and suck- 
lings, so 1 also the first of the apostles is bidden, "Feed 
my lambs." Heathen fathers may, like those of an- 
cient Greece and Rome, commit the upbringing of 
their children to menials and slaves ; Christian parents 
will account this task so great and blessed that they 
will personally do their utmost in performing it. 
Modern heathenism may concern itself wholly with the 
temporal welfare of children, leaving their souls 
naked and destitute, Christian faith and obedience will 
follow the Master's precept in regard to all child- 
training, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His 
righteousness," trusting in His promise, "And all these 
things shall be added unto you. 

"Of such is the kingdom of heaven," therefore "the 
Gospel of the kingdom" must constantly mold the 
hearts of our little ones, at home, in church, and at 
school. As we dare not offend one of these little ones 
ourselves, so we must guard them against the offenses 
of evil companions. As our personal efforts at train- 
ing our children must ever be a nurture in the fear and 
admonition of the Lord, SO' all who are allowed to aid 
us must work toward the same blessed end. What- 
ever the difficulties and expense, they count as noth- 
ing in comparison to the result. Therefore we say, 
every church is remiss in one of its most sacred duties, 
if it fails to make proper provision for its children. 
Every sponsor, relative, or friend of a child is without 



184 His Footsteps. 

excuse, if he neglect to provide the best possible means 
for the Christian education of that child. The estab- 
lishment of proper parochial schools is undoubtedly 
the duty of the Christian congregations in our land. 
The perfect equipment of such schools with truly Chris- 
tian teachers and with every means for the prosecution 
of their work must be one of the great cares of every 
church member. "The promise is unto you," and not 
unto you alone, but "unto you and your children." 
Acts 2, 39. Therefore, as you enjoy its rich blessed- 
ness, so you must open a like enjoyment for your chil- 
dren. 

It is not said that whatsoever you do for your own 
self is done for Christ; but it is said that whatsoever you 
do for one of the least of Christ's brethren is done for 
Christ Himself. Matth. 25, 40. "Behold the Lord 
Jesus with a child in His arms! Become like this 
child, then He will receive you; stoop down, as He 
does, with a loving heart to such a child, then you will 
receive Him." (Besser.) 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE THINGS THAT ARE CESAR'S. 

THE Son of man was subject to the governmental 
powers that exercised authority at the time, and 
in the land in which His earthly life was placed. 
And this He did in such a way as to furnish us a com- 
plete example in regard to all that pertains to the things 
that are Caesar's. 

Christ was the Son of God, and as such no man's 
subject, but every man's ruler. All power in heaven 
and earth were His, and the legions of heaven were 
ready to do His slightest bidding. He was more than 
a spiritual King ruling with the scepter of grace over 
a kingdom not of this world. He was, and is now, the 
King of kings, the Lord of lords, ruling with infinite 
power and wisdom over the whole universe. All gov- 
ernments and authorities were, and are now, subjects 
of His supreme authority. And the Son of God never 
abrogated this authority, never yielded this supreme 
dominion. In all His humiliation He still ruled the 
world. If the demons were compelled to obey His 
behests, the lords and kings of earth were certainly not 
exempt from the authority of His power. If the hosts 
of heaven were subject to His slightest commands, 
the hosts of earth were not above this subjection. Pi- 
late had power over Jesus, but only inasmuch as that 



186 His Footsteps. 

power was given him from above, by the King of 
heaven itself. It would be a grave error to lose sight 
of all this in speaking of Christ's relation to the human 
government beneath which He lived His earthly life. 

As Christ was true God, begotten of the Father 
from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin 
Mary, so also He was the true King of all heaven and 
earth, and at the same time a true subject of an earthly 
government. It may be difficult for us to understand 
how He could be both God and man, and likewise both 
King and subject, yet the fact remains. For the pur- 
pose of redeeming our fallen race the King of kings 
"made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him 
the form of a servant and was made in the likeness 
of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He hum- 
bled Himself and became obedient," also to an earthly 
government, even to a government that subjected Him 
at last to the gross infamy and cruel injustice of the 
cross. As real as was Christ's kingly domain over all 
human powers and authorities, so real also was Christ's 
willing subjection to the powers and authorities of 
His native land. The greater part of His life was spent 
in the silence of Nazareth, where He lived quietly, a 
peaceful Galilean citizen. When His public labors at 
last caused the eyes of the authorities, both Jewish and 
Gentile, to fix their scrutinizing gaze upon Him, when 
a spirit of hostility to this King of Zion at last turned 
the hand of the chief priests and elders against Him, 
we hear never a single word from Jesus' lips or behold 
a single deed renouncing their authority or branding it 
as illegal. Even during the last tragic events Christ, 
the innocent sufferer, makes answer to Caiaphas as 



The Things that are Cessans. 187 

president of the Jewish Sanhedrin and to Pilate as pro- 
curator of Judaea. However guilty these authorities 
may be, Christ stands before them as a citizen and sub- 
ject claiming no more for Himself in this position than 
any other of the thousands who were His fellows. 

The faultless bearing of Christ toward the govern- 
ment of His land is a translation into life of St. Paul's 
instructions in Rom. 13. The Son of man was "subject 
unto the higher powers," and this for the reason that 
these powers were "ordained of God." When the 
Jew?, whose hearts were full of rebellion against the 
imperial power of Rome, sought to tempt Jesus with 
the question concerning tribute to Caesar, He showed 
them plainly that nothing of this rebellion dwelt in 
His heart. Demanding a penny He pointed to the 
image and superscription stamped thereon, and bade 
them give unto Caesar the things that were Caesar's, 
and to God the things that were God's. By accepting 
the coin of the emperor they gave testimony to the 
emperor's authority over them. Whether he was 
heathen or Israelite, it mattered not; as long as he was 
their sovereign they were bound to render him obedi- 
ence and tribute. "The powers that be are ordained 
of God." It was the same in Paul's time, when he 
wrote these words to the Christians at Rome. Wicked 
Nero sat on the throne. Were they bound to regard 
him as their sovereign, to submit to his government, « 
to pay him tribute? They were indeed. For all gov- 
ernment is of God, and no emperor, king, or presi- 
dent, in whatever way he may have secured 
his authority, holds it except through the provi- 
dence of God. It is the will of God that there be a 



188 His Footsteps. 

government; and it is He who guides each nation so 
that the government comes into certain hands, now 
with justice into the hands of good rulers, now 
with injustice into the hands of evil rulers. But who- 
ever may rule, or whatever the form of government 
may be, Christ's example declares for obedience. 

The real cause for such obedience of Christ to hu- 
man rulers, and these evil men, is not to be confounded 
with the causes for such obedience usual among men. 
He obeyed, not because He feared punishment in case 
He should fail to obey; not because He liked the gov- 
ernment or the persons exercising its functions — how 
could He be pleased with men like Caiaphas or Pilate? 
— not because He was reaping great blessings from the 
governmental management of these men. The Son 
of man was subject unto men for the sake of His Father 
in heaven. Because the powers that were, were or- 
dained of God, Christ submitted to them. The secret 
of His example in pure and stainless citizenship even 
in the hour of greatest difficulty is His perfect obedi- 
ence to Him whose will had placed Him into such po- 
sition, and whose will was His only law. 

Christ's obedience and submission as a citizen of 
Judaea did not militate against the open and fearless 
testimony which He bore against the sins and crimes 
of those clothed with power. Had John the Baptist 
rebuked the adultery of Herod the king, Christ seconds 
and confirms the rebuke: 'T say unto you, whosoever 
shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, 
and shall marry another, committeth adultery." 
Matth. 19, 9.. As the ruler of Galilee Herod might 
have authority over the Son of man, but no divine or 



The Things that are Gzsar's. 189 

human law gave him authority to put away his wife 
and to live with another in incestuous adultery. On 
one occasion the Pharisees came to Jesus with the re- 
port: "Get Thee out, and depart hence; for Herod is 
wanting to kill Thee." Evidently, they sought to rid 
themselves of His presence by inspiring Jesus with 
fear. But He who knew no fear answered them fear- 
lessly with a word full of utter contempt: "Go and 
tell this fox, Behold, I am casting out devils and work- 
ing cures to-day and to-morrow, and on the third day 
my work is done." Luke 13, 32. Whatever claim to 
respect Herod might have as a king, his abominable 
baseness deserved nothing but scorn and contempt. 
"If ever there was a man who richly deserved con- 
tempt, it was this paltry, perjured princeling — false to 
his religion, false to his nation, false to his friends, false 
to his brethren, false to his wife—to whom Jesus gave 
the name of 'this fox'." It has been well said that re- 
spect for the powers that be can hardly involve respect 
for all the impotences and imbecilities of such as 
Herod. As far as the law of God and the Gospel are 
concerned the highest dignitaries have no more claim 
than the lowest criminals. Sin degrades king and beg- 
gar alike, and when they glory in their degradation 
they are alike abominable and contemptible. 

As Jesus failed not to brand the wickedness of Herod 
because of any power or authority exercised by this 
base offspring of a corrupt family, so He openly chided 
the evil intentions of the Jewish authorities. "Why do 
ye seek to kill me?" He asks them repeatedly, reading 
the deadly hate in their eyes, knowing fully all their 
murderous counsels, understanding all their futile at- 



190 His Footsteps. 

tempts against His life. Their wickedness was the 
greater because they were the spiritual leaders of 
Israel, and so much the more reason why it should be 
laid bare. When Jesus stood at last, a helpless sufferer, 
before Pilate, He declared that these His haters who 
had delivered Him into the procurator's hands had the 
greater sin in the crime of His death. Jesus was ready 
to acknowledge the governmental authority both of 
the Great Council of the Jews and of Pilate the procu- 
rator; He willingly made oath, when Caiaphas de- 
manded a sworn statement as to whether He was the 
Son of the living God or not, and likewise He willingly 
answered the judicial inquiries of Pilate. But when 
Annas assumed unwarranted authority, and in a sort of 
preliminary examination inquired of Jesus concerning 
His disciples and His doctrine, he received the re- 
proving reply: "Why asketh thou me? Ask them 
which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold 
they know what I said." And the base fellow who 
smote Jesus for these words received likewise the re- 
buke: "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the 
evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?" Base, treach- 
erous, deadly cruel though they were, one and all of 
His Jewish judges, deserving the sternest reproof, and 
far more than mere reproof, swift and condign pun- 
ishment for their criminal procedure, every word of 
reproof from Jesus' lips was spoken in the spirit of the 
last prayer on the cross for His murderers, "Father, 
forgive them." There was love ready to endure all 
things even in the prophetic warning which He added 
to the declaration of His divinity: "I say unlo you, 
Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the 



The Things that are Ccesars. 191 

right hand of power and coming in the clouds of 
heaven." Matth. 26, G4. 

For the most part Christ met the lying accusations 
of the Jewish authorities, and their, impotent at- 
tempts at proving "Him a malefactor by means of per- 
jured witnesses, with a silence of outraged innocence 
far stronger than any protest, appeal, or reproof would 
have been. When they who should have judged right- 
eous judgment sold themselves body and soul unto un- 
righteousness, Jesus stung their callous consciences 
with the uncomfortable arrow of His silence. Again, 
when Pilate had declared His prisoner altogether in- 
nocent, yet for fear of the Jews found himself unable 
to dismiss their false accusations, Jesus was silent; and 
the power of His silence pierced deeply the heathen 
heart that knew well enough the sacred claims at least 
of natural justice. Herod was also confronted by the 
majestic silence of the innocent sufferer. But here 
there was more than reproof in the sealed lips so pale 
and stern. Herod did not even make an attempt to 
examine Jesus judicially, his utter depravity was bent 
on nothing but entertainment and an hour of diversion. 
With the silence of scorn Christ met the proposals of 
this king who had lost every kingly attribute. The 
shaft of this silence pierced the thick hide of this su- 
persitious criminal. In impotent rage he loaded the 
vilest abuse upon his silent victim, and when the small 
fund of his cruel wit was exhausted sent Jesus away. 
The silence of Jesus speaks volumes; Peter helps to 
interpret it for us: "Christ also suffered for us, leav- 
ing us an example that ye should follow His steps, who 
did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth ; who, 



192 His Footsteps. 

when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He 
suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself 
to Him that judgeth righteously." 1 Peter 2, 21, etc. 
Cruelty and injustice might rule for an hour, truth and 
righteousness were sure to triumph forever. 

As long as possible Christ sought to avoid any con- 
flict with the authorities of His land. Foreseeing their 
base hostility, Jesus transferred most of His activity to 
Galilee, appearing only for brief periods in the capital 
and its environments. When at last even this prudent 
course failed to prevent the inevitable, Christ withdrew 
Himself almost entirely, keeping to the distant out- 
skirts of the land or in places little known till the final 
catastrophe had to come. But we must not suppose 
that Jesus simply avoided those in authority because 
hostile to Himself and the cause of truth, that He made 
no attempt to counteract and eradicate the evil in their 
hearts. To be sure, He did not assume the role of a 
political reformer stirring the land with His loud-voiced 
agitation, crying in the streets for the inauguration of 
new measures or for the appointment of new rulers. 
He took a better and more effectual course; He 
preached the Gospel in all its power. This was the 
only means for saving both the rulers and the nation 
from the swift destruction bound otherwise to overtake 
them. When the flinty hearts of the leaders of the 
people would not be softened by this divine power, 
there was but one course left Jesus as the Son of man 
subject to the powers of the land — that was to suffer 
while the righteous judgment of God proceeded on 
its inevitable way. "He reviled not, He threatened not, 
but committed Himself to Him that judgeth right- 



The Thi?igs that are Ccesar's. 193 

eously." Human wisdom may find much fault with 
this course, yet divine wisdom will sanction it from be- 
ginning- to end. 

The example of Jesus is full of instruction for us in 
regard to' the things that are Caesar's. To be sure, 
Christ did not pass through every possible trial and 
predicament as regards citizenship and governmental 
authority; we may find ourselves in circumstances al- 
together different, facing problems and perplexities 
to which we can find no exact parallel or sufficient 
counterpart in the brief life of Jesus. And yet His 
footsteps will ever show us the true path of Christian 
duty, for we are not slavishly to repeat merely His 
words and deeds in our lives, but in true spirituality to 
fill our lives with the divine principles that guided Him, 
and to mold all our actions in perfect accord with these 
principles. Whether then we be rulers or subjects, 
kings or slaves, living the quiet lives of peace or the 
troubled lives of persecution, the shining footsteps of 
Jesus will show us the one path we are to follow. 

More than the considerations of expediency and 
utility, or the common feelings of patriotism must 
bind us to the duty of mercy and justice, if we have any 
share in exercising authority, and to the duty of ready 
submission, if we belong to the numerous class of the 
governed. Christ gave to Caesar the things that were 
Caesar's because such was the Father's will ; He who was 
the Lord of all the kings and emperors of earth sub- 
mitted Himself to the governor of a limited province, 
because His Father in heaven desired such submission. 
Christ's virtues as an obedient citizen were a divine 
service rendered to God for conscience sake. "Where- 



194 His Footsteps. 

fore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but 
but also for conscience sake." Rom. 13, 5. It is this 
higher motive, outlasting and outranking every other, 
which should move us to heed the bidding of Paul: 
"Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom 
tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom 
fear; honor to whom honor." Rom. 13, 7. As far 
as heaven is above earth, so far is Christian citizenship 
above that of the world. Many obey because they 
must, some because they like, others because a natural 
feeling of duty prompts them. The Christlike citizen 
obeys and serves for Christ's sake, and his work will 
be remembered in eternity. 

Although the powers that be are ordained of God, 
and are looked upon and treated accordingly by the 
children of God, they are nevertheless not divine, but 
only human powers, and must never exalt themselves 
or be exalted too highly. We reverence and obey 
them not because their authority has independent 
claims upon us. but "for conscience sake" in obedience 
to God's arangement and command. Even the might- 
iest kings and emperors are only men, and what they 
command comes not with the authority of "Thus saith 
the Lord." It may please God to remove rulers and 
to reverse their enactments. When this takes place, 
the Christian must be ready to acknowledge the provi- 
dence of God and content himself with the authorities 
set over him. 

While the Christian obeys he dare not countenance 
the sins of those who may be in authority. Christ re- 
proved Herod and the elders of His people. Paul, 
when placed in bonds before Felix and Drusilla, rea- 



The Things that are Cesar's. 195 

soned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to 
come; and the fearless testimony of the Gospel from 
the lips of a bound prisoner struck horne in the heart 
of the unrighteous and intemperate Felix and made 
him tremble. It may cost us dear to rebuke the open 
sins of the mighty and powerful, but a clear conscience 
before God is worth the price. The coward who looks 
on in silence while Herod revels in adultery is far from 
the footsteps of Jesus. 

There is ever a difference between the Christlike 
reproof and that of mere worldly morality. The former 
appeals to' the law of God, aims at repentance for sin, 
at the conversion and salvation of the sinner; while 
the latter is satisfied with an outward purification of 
the sinner's conduct. When Christ sought to heal 
the leprosy of His earthly rulers, He touched their 
hearts with the Gospel. Likewise we. A little agita- 
tion may teach our officials that honesty is the best 
policy, while at heart they care no> more for true hon- 
esty than before. A crusade against intemperance and 
the hotbeds in which it is cultivated, may for a time 
lessen the evil, and in, so far be a blessing. But Christ 
and the Christian must ever go further. They cannot 
be satisfied when men, because they must, or because 
they find it policy, desist from evil. Their end is not 
reached until men forsake evil altogether because they 
have learned to> hate it and been made free by the sav- 
ing powers of Christ. It may be difficult and even im- 
possible to reach this goal; Caiphas, Pilate, Felix re- 
mained unchanged, while Christ and Paul, as far as 
their earthly treatment was concerned, by no means 
profited by their attempts to change them. Yet success 



196 His Footsteps. 

or failure dare not turn the balance of Christian duty. 
It is better to die with Christ than to live and rule with 
Herod. 

Xo form of human government and no administra- 
tion of any form will be faultless throughout. The 
principle to which the laws and their administration is 
to conform is, according to the words of Paul, that 
rulers may be a terror to the evil and a minister of God 
unto the good. But even in the attempts to keep the 
outward deeds of men reasonably pure the best of mag- 
istrates will have cause to lament many a shortcoming 
and failure. Now the laws will fail of reaching fully 
the ends of justice ; again there will be insurmountable 
obstacles to their proper execution ; and yet again our 
own ignorance and inability will help to hinder the 
cause of righteousness. The kingdom of perfection 
will not appear until the new heavens and the new earth 
are formed. But though the laws and governments 
beneath which we live be full of fault, they still claim 
our Christian obedience and allegiance. Though poli- 
cies are pursued which we may deem unwise and hurt- 
ful, though laws are laid down hard for us to bear, and 
men are put into power evading the laws or utilizing 
them for base purposes, we are not on this account 
absolved from the duties of Christian citizenship. Such 
evils only help to lay another duty upon us, namely that 
we use energetically all legitimate means for their abol- 
ishment. Meanwhile, we dare not forget that a faulty 
government is a thousand times better than anarchy. 
Harsh and oppressive measures may exercise our pa- 
tience to the utmost, but while they lead us to pray and 
labor more earnestly for laws and authorities beneath 



The Things that are Cesar's. 197 

which "we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all 
godliness and honesty" (1 Tim. 2, 2) they will serve to 
stir us to earnest self-examination and repentance for 
our own numerous faults. It is not for naught that 
God lays a heavy rod upon us. Only too often we es- 
teem the blessings of a good government too little, 
pray for its continuance and give thanks too coldly, 
murmur and complain too much; only too often we 
care little when others are oppressed, if only we be at 
ease, letting evils grow in unconcern until their bitter- 
ness overtakes us also. 

For the Christian the principle of Peter must ever 
stand fast: "We must obey God rather than men." 
Whenever governmental and divine authority clashes 
there is no question as to the side on which the foot- 
steps of Jesus lie, and to which our course must incline. 
Prison and death may be found on that side, but even 
they dare not turn us aside. "For this is thankworthy, 
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suf- 
fering wrongfully. For what glory is it, when ye be 
buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but 
if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, 
this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were 
you called." 1 Peter 2, 19, etc. "Beloved, think it not 
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you 
as though some strange thing happened unto you; but 
rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's suffer- 
ings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be 
glad also with exceeding joy." "But let none of you 
suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil doer, 
or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any 
man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but 



198 His Footsteps. 

let him glorify God on this behalf." 1 Peter 4, 12, etc. 
Peter and John would not cease proclaiming the name 
of Christ though threatened by the Jewish Council 
itself; Paul was ready to suffer anything from the hands 
of earthly judges and rulers for the sake of the Gospel. 
Not that we are to provoke worldly authorities need- 
lessly, and glory in the simple fact of suffering. If 
our folly or unwise action bring persecution upon us, 
we should be ashamed and learn the lesson of prudence 
from Christ. Paul gladly made use of the special 
rights and immunities that were his as a Roman citi- 
zen. The cause of the Gospel is not furthered b> fool- 
ish words or careless actions of ours, but only by firm 
and loyal adherence to the clear directions of God, 
though they be contradicted by the demands of men. 

Against the crimes of wicked men we are certainly 
justified in appealing to the powers that be, that they 
may protect us by punishing the evil-doer. The gov- 
ernment does not bear the sword in vain, and we are 
not to aid men in their wickedness by calmly standing 
by whilst they vent their wickedness upon us. One of 
the great blessings of good government consists in 
the protection which guarantees us a quiet and peace- 
able life in the land. A follower of Christ may, ac- 
cordingly, serve his government in any legitimate ca- 
pacity for upholding order and for apprehending and 
punishing transgressors of the law. A Christian may 
well serve as a policeman, sheriff, judge, or soldier. 
But he will lay down any such office sooner than abuse 
it at the command of evil superiors for the purposes 
of injustice and wrong. 



The Things that are Ccesar's. 199 

Happily the Christian is not called upon very fre- 
quently to face the extreme of tyranny and oppression. 
Yet there have been and still are bloody rulers after the 
pattern of Antiochus-Epiphanes, Nero, and Caligula. 
Such are the Turk of to-day in his bloody oppression 
of the Arminian Christians, and the Czar of Russia in 
his treatment of the Lutherans, Stundists, and Jews 
in his realm. "Over against an unjust government and 
the violence it may employ the Christian is enabled to 
maintain an insuperable power of the soul, for con- 
science sake never yielding to force. If the govern- 
ment demand that which is wrong, the Christian will 
fight for the right first of all by refusing obedience in 
passive resistance. If the government threatens vio- 
lence, he will boldly testify against the wrong and 
willingly suffer the pangs of martyrdom. For he 
knows that the battle for the right can never be fought 
successfully with the weapons of unrighteousness and 
violence. By his passive resistance, and by his active 
testimony in word and deed the Christian citizen 
brings to bear upon his government a moral power 
which must finally prevail against all tyranny, even if 
for the time the latter should maintain the upper hand. 
Christian strength of soul constitutes a power that con- 
quers even by suffering defeat. Every true martyr's 
blood sends up a new growth of moral political life. 
The history of all times corroborates this truth. Here 
again we have proof that faith is the victory that over- 
cometh the world." (Von Oettingen.) 

We confess that in the face of the indiscriminate 
massacres of thousands of Arminians by the bloody 
Turk this wisdom of the Gospel will sound like folly to 



200 His Footsteps. 

unregenerated cars. They who so easily "despise 
government," who are ever inclined to be "presump- 
tuous, self-willed, not afraid to speak evil of dignities" 
(2 Peter 2, 10), will be only too ready with Peter to 
whip out the sword and to raise the cry of revolt. 
Nevertheless, it is an eternal truth, that the weapons 
of our warfare are not carnal, the church may not 
fight with the sword. Christ's kingdom is not of this 
world, else would His servants have fought that He 
should not have been put to death by the Jews, and 
would fig-lit now that a similar death by violence may 
not overtake them. Though we perish, the church 
will not be shaken. Though we be led as sheep to the 
slaughter, the Lord our God will hear our cry, and 
mete out just judgment. Vengeance is mine, I will 
repay, saith the Lord. It may be a hard lesson to 
learn, faith may be sorely tried by the ordeal, yet there 
is not doubt as to the correctness of this interpretation 
of the example of Him who reviled not nor threatened 
when He suffered. Christ's footsteps are ever marked 
by the cross, never by the sword. 

Great are the blessings of good government, and 
no one will be more ready to accept them gratefully 
than he who follows in the footsteps of Christ. Cheer- 
full}- will he bring every legitimate sacrifice for the 
maintenance of such government. Others may de- 
fraud the government of taxes and customs, he will 
not. Others may shirk the services and labors re- 
quired, he will not. The call to amis and the field of 
battle will find him ready for duty. And yet lie will 
reject the principle of an extravagant and false patriot- 
ism whose motto is: "My country right or wrong." 



The Things that are Ccesar's. 201 

His sword will be unsheathed only in the cause of right 
and truth; for this cause he will be ready to yield his 
life, even if he must yield it by suffering the violence 
of the very authorities he would serve, when these au- 
thorities stand on the side of fasehood and wrong. 
The Christian can have no pleasure in warfare; he will 
seek the arbitrament of battle only when absolute 
necessity demands. And even when the fight is on, 
he will temper sternness with mercy, and pray and la- 
bor for the day when all swords shall be turned into 
plowshares, and all bayonets into pruning- hooks. 

The principles of Christlike righteousness, humility, 
self-sacrifice, and love will guide the Christian in giv- 
ing to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and in this 
very act also to God the things that are God's. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE FULNESS OF HIM THAT FILLETH ALL IN ALL. 

THE Gocl of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of 
glory "hath put all things under His feet, and 
gave Him to be the head over all things to the 
church." And our great duty is to "grow up into Him 
in all things which is the head, even Christ, from whom 
the body fitly joined together and compacted by that 
which every joint supplieth, according to the effect- 
ual working in the measure of every part, maketh 
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in 
love." Eph. 1, 17. 22; 4, 15. 1G. 

Christ is the head, we are the members. The 
church is built upon Christ as the great corner-stone, 
not upon us, though we be fitly joined together as liv- 
ing stones. The church has but one Lord and Mas- 
ter, who may govern and command, guide and direct, 
provide and dispense; not many masters, or even a 
single other, who may lord it over God's heritage; 
for all we are brethren. The church knows but one 
chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls, and the voice of 
a stranger it will not hear, though again and again 
the cry is raised, "Lo, here is Christ, or there!" 
Matth. 24, 23. This position and exaltation of Christ 
as the only foundation, head, Lord, Master, Shepherd 
and Rishop of the church, over against us as only liv- 



The Fulness of Him that Filleth Etc. 203 

ing stones built upon the foundation, members of His 
body and of one another, brethren together, and the 
sheep of His pasture, seems to preclude on our part 
any likeness to Christ. Certainly for us to pretend 
to any power, mastery, and majesty like that of Christ 
would be directly antagonistic both to Christ and to 
His body, the church. The tyranny of the Romish 
papacy and priesthood is the very spirit of antichrist. 
Nevertheless the position of Christ as the head of the 
church, when due regard is had to His exaltation, may 
serve to point out the path of Christlikeness for us 
who are His members. 

As branches of the living vine our great concern 
must be to abide in the vine, and to fulfill our part as 
branches in bearing fruit and submitting to purgation, 
as perfectly as the vine fulfills its part in bearing and 
nourishing the branches. As living members of 
Christ's body we must grow up in all things into Him 
which is the head, and thus serve in our capacity as 
members with a perfection similar to that of the head 
which is Christ. As servants of the one Lord and 
brethren together in the household and family of God, 
we must live in ready obedience and fervent love, re- 
joicing in our adoption and eternal inheritance, and 
thus fill our station as completely as does Christ. As 
the sheep of Christ's pasture we must follow Him, 
and hear His voice, and remain in His fold, as true 
and faithful in our position as the great Shepherd is 
in His. Thus will Christ be formed in us and fill 
every member of His church completely, so that with 
St. Paul we may vary the figure of Christ as the head, 
and the church as the body, and speak of the entire 



"204 His Footsteps. 

church as "one body in Christ, and every one mem- 
bers one of another." Rom. 12. 5. "For as the body 
is one, and hath many members, and all the members 
of that one body, being- many, are one body: so also 
is Christ." 1 Cor. 12, 12. At one time Christ is 
viewed as the head of the church in distinction to our- 
selves as members; at another He is looked upon as 
the life and spirit of the church, which is then taken 
as a complete body, Christ dwelling in every member. 
We are like Christ our head, when we remain mem- 
bers, and do our part as such as faithfully as the head 
does His. But when thus we imitate Christ, He Him- 
self is our life and spirit, dwelling within us, and His 
image shining forth from us. 

The Lord of the church, however, has also given 
His Spirit to the church. "Ye shall receive power 
after that the Holy Ghost is come." Acts 1, S. John 
15, 2G. This Spirit dwells in every member of the 
church ; "now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, 
he is none of His"; "for as many as are led by the 
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Rom. 8, 
9. 14. Wherefore also St. Paul describes the church 
as "an habitation of God through the Spirit." Eph. 
2, 22. The Spirit's work in the church is not to 
"speak of Himself", but to glorify Christ and to give 
unto us the things of Christ, that every member of 
the church may grow constantly more Christlike. 
John lf>, 13-15. Therefore our great concern as 
members of the church of Christ must be to open our 
hearts to the Spirit of Christ, to receive His gifts, sub- 
mit to His working j n lls , and follow His leading. 
So shall Christ be formed in us, in accord with the 



The Fulness of Him that Fillet h Etc. 205 

apostle's description, "Ye are washed, ye are sancti- 
fied, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Cor. 6, 11. So 
shall we be indeed "a chosen generation, a royal 
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye 
should show forth the praises of Him who hath called 
you out of darkness into His marvellous light." 1 
Peter 2, 9. And as "His workmanship", as "God's 
husbandry", "the fruit of the Spirit" shall abound in 
us for the praise of Christ, "love, joy, peace, long-suf- 
fering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temper- 
ance." Gal. 5, 22. 23. 

Whenever we speak of our relation to the church 
and of the path which Christ has marked out for us 
as church-members, we must lay stress on these vital 
elements, our union with Christ the head of the 
church, and our submission to the Spirit through 
whom Christ operates in the church. This union and 
this submission form the foundation upon which our 
lives as members of the church are to be built in the 
imitation of Christ. Prefacing this much, we may 
now proceed to view somewhat in detail the example 
of our Master for us as members of His church. 

The kingdom of God and His relation to it was 
ever present to the mind and heart of Christ. In 
many a parable He set this blessed kingdom before 
His disciples, that they, having entered it, might know 
all its excellence and be able to lead others into its 
joys. The development of the kingdom of heaven 
under the New Covenant as the church of Christ was. 
in particular, the subject of a great part of Christ's 
teaching. He saw the church unfolding from its small 



206 His Footsteps. 

beginnings, like a grain of mustard seed, and filling all 
the earth with its widespread branches, sheltering na- 
tion after nation. It is true indeed, "the kingdom of 
God cometh not with observation: neither shall they 
say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom 
of God is within you." Luke 17, 20. 21. Its spir- 
itual nature, differing so widely from the gross mater- 
ialism of earth, did not render the church, the king- 
dom not of this world, less real to the mind of Christ. 
On the contrary, "heaven and earth shall pass away", 
"the world passeth away and the lust thereof", but 
the church which Christ builds, "the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it", it shall never pass away. 
In fact, if it were not for the church, and the work of 
God in building His spiritual kingdom, the world, 
lying in wickedness, would have passed away and 
perished in its doom long ago. 

The church was in a special sense the object of 
Christ's love. St. Paul speaks of the love between 
Christian husbands and wives, and in this connection 
sets before us the model "as Christ loved the church 
and gave Himself for it." Eph. 5, 25. Jesus indeed 
loved the whole world and gave Himself a ransom for 
many; His messengers are sent to all nations to 
preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins; and 
His purpose and promise is, that whosoever believeth 
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Yet this 
love of Christ for all men in no way opposes His 
special love for the church. If in firs.t coming to the 
sinful world Christ made no difference, offering His 
love and salvation to all alike, He is nevertheless con- 
strained to make a difference at last, when many shall 



The Fulness of Him that Filleth Etc. 207 

have rejected His love altogether, and when others 
shall have accepted it and become His own. Look- 
ing into the future Christ beheld the company of His 
believers as His sheep who know His voice and fol- 
low Him and are known of Him; wherefore also St. 
Paul wrote, "The foundation of God standeth sure, 
having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are 
His." 2 Tim. 2, 19. The word of Jesus to His dis- 
ciples applies to the entire church: "If ye were of 
the world, the world would love its own ; but because 
ye are not of the. world, but I have chosen you out of 
the world, therefore the world hateth you." John 15, 
17. Therefore, concerning the world as distinguished 
from, and opposed to, the church the judgment of 
Christ is fixed, "He that believeth not shall be 
damned", Mark 16, 16; "He that believeth not is con- 
demned already, because he hath not believed in the 
name of the only begotten Son of God", John 3, 18; 
"He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but 
the wrath of God abideth upon him." John 3, 36. 
Therefore also Christ makes a fundamental distinc- 
tion in His prayer: "I pray for them", the disciples, 
"I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou 
hast given me; for they are Thine." John 17, 9. 
And He states definitely whom He means by these, 
"they which shall believe on me through the word 
of the disciples." The end of the world shall witness 
the final repetition of this distinction, Christ's love for 
the church and His rejection of the world; for "be- 
fore Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall 
separate them one from another, as a shepherd di- 
videth his sheep from the goats; and He shall set the 



208 His Footsteps. 

sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left." 
Matth. 25, 32, etc. "These shall go away into ever- 
lasting punishment: but the righteous into life eter- 
nal." Matth. 25, 40. 

Jesus knew that the church on earth would not be 
perfect, nevertheless He embraced it with His love, 
bestowed His gifts upon it, and works with infinite 
patience to bring it at last unto perfection. He saw 
that there would be tares among the wheat, wicked 
and unprofitable servants among the faithful and dili- 
gent, hypocrites among the true believers. The chil- 
dren of the kingdom would themselves be full of 
many faults. Some even would wander from the fold, 
or become lost like pieces of silver, necessitating the 
trying labor of search till they should be found again 
and returned with rejoicing-. Some would fail of fruit 
and would need all the tilling of the faithful gardener 
to make them productive. Some would bear only 
thirtyfold, while others would bring sixty and even a 
hundredfold. Not all would build upon the founda- 
tion of Christ pure gold, silver, and precious stones, 
some would mix in wood, hay, stubble. In spite of 
it all Christ loves the church, and the Spirit of Christ 
goes on with the work of saving, recovering, cleans- 
ing, purifying, perfecting, glorifying. Christ's own 
mantle of righteousness covers the shortcomings of 
His church, so that there is no condemnation to -them 
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the 
flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom. 8, 1. And the final 
outcome of all Christ's love and labor will indeed be 
"a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any 



The Fulness of Him that Fillet h Etc. 209 

such thing, but that it should be holy and without 
blemish." Eph. 5, 27. 

In His infinite love Christ committed to the church 
the means of grace, His Word and Sacraments, to- 
gether with all the blessings therein contained and the 
duties therein implied. "Preach the gospel to every 
creature"; "teaching them to observe all things what- 
soever I have commanded you." All nations are to 
be made disciples by this teaching and by being bap- 
tized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost. And they who have become dis- 
ciples are to take bread and wine, even as Christ did 
in the night in which He was betrayed, partaking 
thus of His body given for us and of His blood shed 
for us for the remission of sins, and fulfilling His bid- 
ding, "This do in remembrance of me." Unspeak- 
ably great and blessed are the promises which Christ 
has attached to the proper use of these means of 
grace. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved"; "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my 
disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the 
truth shall make you free." John 8, 32, etc. "Ac- 
cording to His mercy He saved us by the washing of 
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Titus, 
3, 5. "Take, eat", and "drink ye all of it" — "for the 
remission of sins." Matth. 26, 26, etc. But with the 
blessing there are duties conferred. The church itself 
is to continue in the Word; "Let the word of Christ 
dwell in you richly in all wisdom", Col. 3, 16. Bap- 
tism and Communion are to be faithfully administered 
a^ Christ has directed; we dare not cast our pearls 
before swine. False prophets must be shunned, and 



210 His Footsteps. 

those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the 
doctrine which we have learned must be avoided. 
Because "the promise is unto you and your children", 
the church must make ample provision for all its 
members that they may receive and enjoy the promise. 
And because the promise is also "to all that are afar 
off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call", 
the church is bound to preach the gospel of the king- 
dom with all its precious promises to every creature, 
and to provide everything necessary for the proper 
prosecution of this work, praying always, "Establish 
Thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work 
of our hands establish Thou it." Ps. 90, 17. 

In addition to the means of grace Christ gave to 
His church the office of the ministry. "He gave 
some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evan- 
gelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the per- 
fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for 
the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come 
in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the 
Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
the stature of the fulness of Christ." Eph. 4, 11, etc. 
Paul therefore urges the Ephesian elders, "Take heed 
\\x\Xo yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the 
Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the 
church of God, which He hath purchased with His 
own blood." Acts 20, 28. Likewise the church is 
admonished: "Remember them which have the rule 
over you, who have spoken unto you the word of 
God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their 
conversation." And again, "Obey them that have the 
rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch 



The Fulness of Him that Filleth Etc. 211 

for your souls, as they that must give account, that 
they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that 
is unprofitable for you." Heb. 13, 7 and 17. Every 
shepherd appointed in the church of Christ is to take 
for his model the chief Shepherd who gave His life 
for the flock. Peter writes, ''The elders which are 
among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a wit- 
ness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker 
of the glory that shall be revealed; feed the flock of 
God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, 
not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, 
but of a ready mind ; neither as being lords over God's 
heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And 
when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive 
a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 1 Peter 5, 
1-4. And the flock of God, which has both the love 
of Christ and the faithful labors of His ministers for 
its example, will not be slack in returning love, also 
in the manner indicated by St. Paul, "Let him that is 
taught in the word communicate unto him that 
teacheth in all good things." Gal. 6, 6. "Even so 
the Lord hath ordained that they which preach the 
gospel should live of the gospel." Jesus Himself 
allowed His friends to minister unto His necessities 
and freely partook of the kind hospitality proffered to 
Him. He gave similar instructions to the Twelve 
and to the Seventy, when He sent them out to pro- 
claim the kingdom. 

Christ, indeed, came not to be ministered unto Him- 
self, but to devote Himself in ministrations to others, 
even to the extent of giving His life as a ransom for 
all. In the same spirit of love He has showered an 



•21-2 His Footsteps. 

abundance of gifts upon the members of His church. 
St. Paul gives us a glimpse of the "diversities of gifts" 
bestowed upon the church in His day. 1 Cor. 12. 
And still "that one and selfsame Spirit is dividing to 
every man severally as He will." The church is 
therefore truly a body, and "the members should have 
the same care one of another." "Having then gifts 
differing according to the grace that is given you, 
whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the 
proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our 
ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he 
that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let 
him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with dili- 
gence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness." 
Rom. 12, 6-8. The root of all our gifts and of all the 
works resulting from our gifts must be faith ; and the 
heart of all our gifts and of every exercise of our gifts 
must be charity. "Covet earnestly the best gifts", 1 
Cor. 12, 31; and remember, "Now abideth faith, hope, 
charity, these three; but the greatest of these is 
charity." 1 Cor. 13, 13. 

Christ the king, and the church His kingdom, are 
not of this world; therefore the greatness and glory 
peculiar to this world were not desired by Christ, and 
must not be desired by the church. "Verily, verily, 
I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his 
lord ; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent 
him." "Remember the word that I said unto you, 
The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have 
persecuted me, they will also persecute you ; if they 
have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." 
John 13, 16; 15, 20. We may not change what 



The Fulness of Him that Fillet h Etc. 213 

Christ has said of all His followers, "In the world ye 
shall have tribulation", John 16, 33; and what His 
apostles have repeated so often, "We must through 
much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God", 
even into the glory that awaits us; "Yea, and all that 
will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecu- 
tion." Acts 14, 22; 2 Tim. 3, 12. As the cross was 
laid upon Christ, so will it rest here on earth upon 
the church of Christ. But the Lord of the church has 
not left His followers comfortless. "Be of good 
cheer, I have overcome the world"; "I will see you 
again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no 
man taketh from you." John 16, 33 and 22. Noth- 
ing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ 
Jesus, in whom the church has an unfailing source of 
joy; and "the sufferings of this present time are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be 
revealed in us." Rom. 8, 18. Soon the day will ap- 
pear in which we who have suffered with Christ shall 
reign with Him forever. 

The footsteps of Jesus will thus appear with suf- 
ficient clearness for His followers when considering 
their position as church-members. The writings of 
the apostles are especially rich in setting forth the 
various phases of our relation to the church ; we have 
only touched upon the wealth of knowledge there 
presented to us. 

The church as the communion of saints and the 
spiritual kingdom of Christ must be for us what it 
was and still is for Christ, a living, blessed, glorious 
reality. There must be nothing dim, shadowy, 
doubtful, questionable about it. As our natural eyes 



214 His Footsteps. 

see the material world about us, so our spiritual eyes 
must see this spiritual realm in which Christ is Lord 
and King adored forever. The church as an earthly 
institution is certainly visible enough and tangible to 
our senses, but this is not the church as Christ saw it 
and embraced it with His love. Our natural eyes be- 
hold a multiplicity of churches, many rents and di- 
visions; we see multitudes of error, and men holding 
them fast as truth; many hearts are without faith in 
Jesus Christ, the only Savior, and yet cling outwardly 
to His name. Our spiritual eyes must learn to look 
beneath that which is visible only to the eyes of the 
flesh; we must learn to see as Christ sees, the grow- 
ing multitude of those in whose hearts Christ is en- 
throned by faith, in whom dwells and operates the 
Spirit of Christ. We cannot pick them out one by 
one, or call each by name, as the Master can in His 
omniscience. But we can know indeed and believe 
that they are all about us, and that we who have faith 
in Christ are joined together with them as living 
members of one body. This is the church of which 
Christ spoke and for which He labored with such 
love; this is the church which shall never pass away, 
though heaven and earth be removed, and the world 
with its lusts perish forever; this is the church, the 
Bride of the Lamb, which shall stand rejoicing at 
Christ's right hand while all its foes sink into con- 
demnation; and this is the church which needs must 
be a living, blessed, glorious reality for every one of 
Christ's followers. 

As Christ loved the church, so must all they who 
rejoice in His love. The entire body of Christ must 



The Fulness of Him that Filleth Etc. 215 

be unspeakably dear to every member of that body. 
And in every possible way this love must show itself. 
There will be special opportunities for its manifesta- 
tion among those whom we are able to acknowledge 
and recognize as brethren, who are one with us in 
confessing the name of Christ and in holding fast the 
faith delivered to the saints. "Be kindly affectioned 
one to another with brotherly love." Rom. 12, 10. 
"Let brotherly love continue." Heb. 13, 1. "Love 
the brotherhood." 1 Peter 2, 17. The many dif- 
ferent ways in which this love is to show itself are de- 
scribed for us in hundreds of places in the Scriptures. 
This brotherly love among believers is to be an inti- 
mate bond, a reciprocal tie binding the one to the 
other. We are indeed to love all men, even as Christ 
loved them all and offered the fruit of His life and 
death to all. Loving them, we are to pray and labor 
for their salvation. Yet we cannot love the sin in 
which men lie, nor feel ourselves one with those who 
are still in the gall of bitterness. Our love toward 
them will be like a hand reaching down to help and 
rescue them ; it cannot be, like our love for the breth- 
ren, a tie binding heart to heart. When men finally 
reject the Head and King and persist in choosing 
darkness and death rather than light and life, our 
love must cease, as does the love of Christ. "For 
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteous- 
ness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 
and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what 
part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what 
agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" 2 
Cor. 6, 14, etc. 



216 His Footsteps. 

Often enough it will be painfully apparent that the 
members of Christ's church have not yet attained per- 
fection. At such time especially our love will be put 
to the proof. But Christ loved us in spite of our 
faults, ami we are to follow in His footsteps. Let us 
look well to the beam in our own eyes, remove our 
own faults, and then proceed to take the mote from 
our brother's eye. 

All who are members of Christ's church must prize 
above all earthly things the blessed means through 
which His grace and gifts come to us. The preach- 
ing of the Word and the administration of the Sacra- 
ments must be the magnet drawing every heart with 
blessed power, "He that is of God heareth God's 
words", John 8, 47; it could not be otherwise. So 
precious is the "remission of sins" in the Sacraments, 
that every believer must make every effort to possess 
and enjoy it fully. Whatever, therefore, may be ne- 
cessary for securing as fully as possible for ourselves 
as well as for others the blessings that come through 
the means of grace, every member of Christ's church 
must be willing to secure and provide — pastors and 
teachers first of all, a time and a fitting place for wor- 
ship, and all the hundred other requirements as their 
needfulness or helpfulness appears. But however ex- 
cellent and complete our ecjuipment for enjoying the 
Word and Sacrament, that Word and Sacrament 
must remain the centre of attraction, and nothing 
whatever dare turn our hearts from this fountain of 
grace. And as Christ gave to us such infinite bless- 
ings and treasures, the duty of passing them on to 
others, even to all nations and to every creature, must 



The Fulness of Him that Filleth Etc. 217 

ever confront us and move us to action. Every bless- 
ing we receive through the means of grace must be 
a call resounding in our hearts and stirring our ener- 
gies to have a like blessing brought far and near to 
our fellow men. 

The great purpose of Christ in bestowing so many 
gifts of all kinds upon the members of His church is 
that they may serve one another, as the members of 
a body serve each other, and that the borders of His 
kingdom may be extended even unto the ends of the 
earth. As Christ used all His powers and faculties 
and possessions for our benefit, so we must use our 
gifts for the benefit of others. Selfish enjoyment is 
contrary to Christ and ruinous to ourselves ; the more 
we scatter, the more we gain, and the more faithful 
and unselfish our service, the more blessed and rich 
our possession and enjoyment. An excellent ex- 
ample of unselfish devotion on the part of church- 
members to each other is seen in the first congrega- 
tion at Jerusalem. "The multitude of them that be- 
lieved were of one heart and of one soul : neither said 
any of them that aught of the things which he pos- 
sessed was his own; but they had all things com- 
mon." Acts 4, 32. The essential thing is that we be 
of one heart and of one soul, and that as the stewards 
of God we hold all our gifts and possessions subject 
to .His direction and at the service of our brethren. 

The faithfulness with which as church-members we 
follow in the footsteps of Jesus will by no means ex- 
empt us from the cross. "For whom the Lord loveth 
He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He re- 
ceiveth." Heb. 12. 16. The more closelv we follow 



218 His Footsteps. 

Jesus, the more will the world see that we have bidden 
its lusts farewell, and the more will it hate and per- 
secute us. But "rejoice and be exceeding glad: for 
great is your reward in heaven." Matth. 5, 12. 
Abundant is the comfort Christ has provided for His 
church, great is the hope He sets before us to cheer 
and rejoice our hearts, and sweet are the fruits of 
affliction when we yield ourselves to Christ and let 
Him accomplish His purpose in us. Therefore, "we 
glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation 
worketh patience; and patience, experience; and ex- 
perience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed." 
Rom. 5, 5. Only a little while, and we too, if we be 
faithful unto death, shall be joined to the multitude of 
whom it is written: "These are they which came out 
of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb. There- 
fore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him 
day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on 
the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hun- 
ger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the 
sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which 
is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall 
lead them unto living fountains of water: and God 
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Rev. 7 f 
14-17. 




From that hour thai disciple took It, 
his own home. — John 19, 27. 



CHAPTER XVI!. 

WHOM JESUS LOVED. 

THE Son of man was no stranger to friendship. 
We now should seek friends who are like Him, 
and should be friends after His example. 

Christ came to< seek and to save the lost; He was 
everywhere and at all times the Savior of men. And 
yet the quality of friendship did not interfere with His 
character as the Savior. The Man who came to save 
men could well be the friend of men. Was not God 
of old the friend of Abraham? Did He not find 
David a man after His own heart, a man to take as 
His friend? Indeed, something would seem to be 
lacking in the perfect humanity of Christ, if this noblest 
affection had been alien to His heart. 

The Pharisees called Christ derisively "A friend of 
publicans and sinners." And He undoubtedly met 
these despised people as their friend. He went to 
them, He ate with them at table, He treated them with 
as much distinction as He did the Pharisees and mem- 
bers of the Sanhedrin. And more than this. His heart 
went out to them in love and sympathy for their pitia- 
ble spiritual condition, and in eager earnestness to 
save them from their degradation. He was a friend 
such as thev had never met before, and His friendship 



220 His Footsteps. 

won their hearts unto faith and love and friendly affec- 
tion. 

We must be careful, however, to distinguish the 
features of the friendship which is here attributed to 
Christ. The two between whom the bond was formed 
were very far apart, the one the Son of God, the other 
public sinners. Some might doubt that any degree or 
kind of friendship could exist between the two, just 
because they were so widely separated. And yet we 
must not forget that both were men, and that both 
were drawn to each other, the Man Christ Jesus by His 
love for the lost, and the men of sin by their longing 
for salvation. And so they could be friends indeed, 
Christ in His wondrous condescension bowing down 
to them, they in their deep humility looking up to Him. 
Love was the bond that bound them heart to heart. 

The night before the crucifixion when Christ poured 
out the thoughts of His full heart before the men who 
had followed Him faithfully so long, we find Him say- 
ing to them: "I have called you friends." The word 
servant did not express the relation in which they stood 
toward Christ, "for the servant knoweth not what his 
lord doeth"; they were far above servants, far above 
scholars or learners (disciples), they had become 
Christ's friends, and He had shown Himself their 
friend, "for all things that I have heard of my Father 
I have made known unto you." The}' were on very 
intimate terms, there was no wall of secrecy between 
them, their hearts communed freely. 

We see at once that the relation of Christ to His 
disciples, as far as the element of friendship goes, is 
considerably above that of Christ to the publicans and 



Whom Jesus Loved. 221 

sinners. The gulf for love to bridge is not so wide. 
Christ still stands as high as ever, but these men have 
been lifted up nearer to Him by their three years of 
intercourse with Him and training in His school. 
They are more Christlike than those sinners who had 
just begun to turn to Christ. "I in you and you in me," 
are Christ's own words expressive of the intimate bond 
between them. They knew the mind of Christ, as the 
publicans and sinners did not; they had given them- 
selves to the work of Christ, as the publicans and sin- 
ners had not; they had been constantly in the company 
and under the influence of Christ as the publicans and 
sinners had not. And so the bond of love that united 
Christ and His disciples was higher than that uniting 
Christ and the publicans and sinners. 

But the beginnings of friendship with Christ are free 
to ripen into the fullest exaltation of friendly commun- 
ion with Him. For was not Matthew, the son of Levi, 
one of the publicans who drew nigh to Jesus and be- 
gan to love Him with the others? And yet he was 
chosen to be one of the twelve, he was included when 
at last Christ declared: "Ye are my friends." 

All who believed in Christ and followed in His steps 
were to a certain degree His friends. And yet there 
were differences in this manifold friendship. The 
essence of the bond was ever the same, but there were 
differences in form and quality and manifestation. 
The capacity and situation of those who became 
Christ's friends helped to* make these differences. 
Christ knew many people in Capernaum and in other 
cities of Galilee and of Judea, and yet one family in the 
little village of Bethany was closer to Christ in friend- 



222 His Footsteps. 

ship than all the others who loved Him as their Savior 
and Friend. Christ, speaking to the disciples, called 
Lazarus "our friend"; and when that friend lay at the 
gate of death the message of the sisters came in 
this form: "Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is 
sick." The heart of friendship had dictated that phrase, 
"whom Thou lovest." 

In the quiet home at Bethany Christ found a resting 
place where to lay His head, such as He found no- 
where else. We know how He entered there at Mar- 
tha's invitation and partook of her friendly hospitality. 
There were many women who followed Jesus and min- 
istered unto Him of their substance. Luke 8, 1-3. 
Even among these Mary Magdalene stands first. And 
a like relation existed between Christ and the friends 
at Bethany who were so ready to minister to Him of 
the home comforts with which they were blessed. 
Here was the last haven of rest for Christ before the 
storm of death burst upon Him. Here they gath- 
ered in friendly converse at the last feast of friendship. 
John 12, 1 and 2. But among the three who clung to 
Him in friendship one again rose above the others in 
the exaltation of her affection. It was Mary, the sis- 
ter of Lazarus and Martha, who anointed Christ for 
His death. Her name ranks first, for of her Christ 
declared: "Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever this 
gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world 
this also what she hath done shall be spoken of for a 
memorial of her." 

As it was with these friends at Bethany so also with 
the disciples. They were all alike friends of Jesus, 
yet three stood out above the rest, and of these three 



Whom Jesus Loved. 223 

one above the other two. It is surely not accidental 
that the little circle of three formed within the circle 
of twelve, that on Tabor's hight, in Jairus' death- 
chamber, and in the night on Olivet Peter and James 
and John were near their Master while the others re- 
mained away. Nor was the choice of these three to 
be witnesses of Christ on these most notable occasions 
a mere arbitrary selection; the fact that these three and 
none others were thus repeatedly chosen shows that 
there was reason for the choice. Undoubtedly they 
were nearer to Christ than the nine; their hearts and 
minds were more quick to understand the Master, and 
better prepared to keep what they saw and heard. 
Among the eleven beloved friends* of Christ these three 
therefore stood in the first rank. 

And yet there was a great difference even among 
these three. One of them designates himself "the dis- 
ciple whom Jesus loved." It was John. He was 
nearer to Christ than any of the rest, nearer even than 
Peter. At the feast of the passover, as Jesus and His 
disciples reclined upon the couches, the one who lay 
next to Christ was John. "Now there was leaning on 
Jesus' bosom one of His disciples whom Jesus loved."' 
John 13, 23. This nearness was not merely outward, 
it is referred to again: "the disciple whom Jesus loved 
. . . which also leaned on His breast at supper," and 
plainly indicates a nearness of soul, a nearness of most 
intimate friendship and love. Jesus loved all of His 

* At the betrayal Christ asked Judas : " Friend, wherefore 
art thou come?" The word friend is here not philos, but 
hetairos, meaning comrade, not friend in the sense of one 
beloved and loving in return. 



224 His Footsteps. 

disciples, but in this love John held the first place. And 
he held it by being- himself nearest to Jesus in love. 

The proof of his greater love and faithfulness is seen 
beneath the cross. All had fled, but John was there. 
And this disciple whom Jesus loved was called to a 
special service because of his special love. Jesus gave 
His mother into John's care, that he should fill the 
place of her dead Son. This service of love lifts John 
above all his fellow-disciples. Of all the friends of 
Jesus John stood nearest to Christ. Of all who were 
Christlike, John was most Christlike; of all who un- 
derstood Christ, His love, His work, His kingdom, and 
His infinite plans of mercy John was first and foremost. 
The gospel and epistles written by John show that he 
apprehended more of the hight and depth of the mys- 
tery of Christ and His salvation than did any of the 
rest. 

No especial outward honor is conferred upon John. 
He is not made the leader or master of the other dis- 
ciples. The only marks of distinction conferred upon 
the nearest friend of Jesus is that his love is called to 
perform a special service for his Master and Friend, 
a service for which his greater and deeper love gave 
him a special fitness, and that he was permitted to re- 
main in the service of his Master longer than any of 
the others, even until Jesus came again in judgment 
upon Jerusalem. John 21, 22. 2D. Such were the 
marks and rewards of John's friendship and love for 
Christ. 

In two ways this relation of friendship between Christ 
and those who loved Him may serve as an example 
for us to follow. As they all were friends of One who 



Whom Jesus Loved. 225 

stood above them, so we should seek friends to whom 
we may look up, on whom we may lean, from whom 
we may draw. As Jesus gave Himself to be the 
friend of those who stood beneath Him, so we should 
enter the bond of friendship with those beneath us that 
they may lean upon us and draw from us. And some 
will be found who can give us by their special gifts 
as much as we can give them through our special gifts. 

The essential point in all the friendships formed in 
the footsteps of Jesus is the bond of love through faith 
in Christ. Friendship always demands two things, a 
certain degree of similarity and likeness, and a certain 
degree of dissimilarity and diversity. But all true 
friendships after the example of Christ will have, as 
the chief and controlling element of this likeness' be- 
tween two hearts, mutual love and attachment to Christ. 
No Christlike friendship is possible where this element 
is wanting. There can be no true bond of friendship 
between a lover of Christ and a hater of Christ. 

Christ formed no friendships with those who did 
not acknowledge Him as the Savior sent of God. The 
attempt to do so would have been monstrous, in fact 
it would have involved that Christ give up His divine 
Sonship and His mission of redemption. There could 
be no communion between light and darkness, between 
Christ and Belial, between the Son of God and Beel- 
zebub or the children of Beelzebub. This impossi- 
bility will remain to all eternity, 

The Christlikeness of Christians will forever form an 
impossible barrier to any degree of true friendship be- 
tween them and unbelievers. Christians may meet on 
friendly terms with all the world, but friendliness is 



226 His Footsteps. 

not friendship, and friendly treatment and kindness in 
intercourse with children of the world is not by any 
means true friendship with worldlings. When the very 
centers of life and love are so fundamentally opposite, 
contrary, contradictory, antagonistic and hostile, there 
can be no union and communion such as forms the 
heart of friendship. Other differences may be bridged 
over by friendship, this fatal opposition never in reality. 
David and Saul could never be true friends, but Da- 
vid and Jonathan furnish us a beautiful example of true 
friendship based on their joint piety and obedience to 
God. We dare not be deceived by the mere semblance 
of friendship. Similar likes and dislikes often serve 
as a bond of union. Two men love fine painting, their 
joint love unites them, they are called friends; and yet 
their friendship is only a mere semblance of the true 
affection that bears this name. Souls can not be "knit 
together" by such a bond. Pilate and Herod became 
friends when the former tried to rid himself of a dis- 
agreeable duty and sent his exalted prisoner to' the lat- 
ter for trial. And yet their friendship is so radically 
different from that which contains the full essence of 
this beautiful affection that we would never compare 
these two with such friends as David and Jonathan or 
Christ and John. The semblance of friendship is 
formed the world over like the weeds that grow side 
by side in even- garden, but the true affection of Christ- 
like friendship is like the lily whose clusters grow only 
in favored spots. Mutual love of this thing or that, 
joint hatred of this thing or that may be called friend- 
ship, but only the harmonious answer of heart to heart 



Whom Jesus Loved. 227 

in the holiest and highest things of God is true friend- 
ship after the example of Christ. 

Christlike friends, although alike in faith and love to 
Christ, may be very different in their spiritual attain- 
ments, in their mental acquirements, and in their out- 
ward circumstances. Paul and Timothy were close 
friends, and yet the one was as a father and the other 
as a son. Again Paul and Aquila and Priscilla were 
intimate friends. Their friendship beginning at Cor- 
inth lasted for life, as we see from the letters of Paul. 
And yet what a difference between the mighty Paul 
who wrote the greatest epistles of the New Testament, 
and stood boldly in the face of a thousand storms, and 
the humble tent-maker with his meek, retiring, quiet 
disposition; what great diversity between Paul, unmar- 
ried, fighting the battles of the Lord as one of the 
greatest leaders of the church, and Priscilla, the hum- 
ble spouse of Aquila, devoting her noble heart to 
quiet household duties and such occasional private 
work, as the instruction of Apollos in her Ephesian 
home. 

Christlike hearts in their humility will seek like the 
friends of Jesus, like Timothy, Aquila and Priscilla 
stronger spirits to which they may knit themselves in 
the bonds of friendship. They will gladly follow the 
friendly leading of a stronger hand. And the time 
may come when they will be able in their humble posi- 
tion to render their greater friend the highest and ho- 
liest service of friendship. John took Mary as his 
mother for Christ's sake; Aquila and Priscilla laid 
clown their necks in Paul's behalf for Christ's sake. 



228 His Footsteps. 

Like the friendship of Jesus for those beneath Him 
was Paul's friendship for those endowed with smaller 
gifts than his own. The glory of such friends is their 
higher ministry and greater service. Christ girded 
Himself about and washed the feet of His disciples, 
that they might follow His example in the humility of 
loving service. The great ones of the earth strut about 
with great titles and rejoice to have men serving them 
in servility. The great ones in the kingdom of God 
stoop to the lowliest and rejoice to serve those beneath 
them and less favored than themselves. The relations 
of equals in Christlike friendship is very grateful to 
each, but the relation of those who are higher with 
those who stand lower has its own peculiar opportuni- 
ties and blessings. To be sure, such friendship ex- 
cludes both pride and servility. The arrogance of the 
great and the presumptuousness of the small would 
ruin their Christlikeness and render friendship between 
them impossible. 

The angels in heaven are all friends, Christ's follow- 
ers on earth are not. The cause of division lies in the 
sin that still to a great extent darkens our hearts, viti- 
ates our lives, and renders us unfit to be friends and to 
have friends as we should. But ever as the flesh dies 
friendship will grow and increase and reach perfection 
of bloom and fruitage. Lord, send us friendship and 
love on earth as it is in heaven. 




Jesus bidding His mother farewell. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

HAVE I BEEN SO LONG TIME WITH YOU? 

THE patience and forbearance of love appear con- 
stantly in Jesus' intercourse with His friends; 
and these twin virtues must reappear in all our 
intercourse with those who are near and dear to us. 

We limit our view at present to Christ's dealings 
with His friends. There was patience and forbear- 
ance also in His treatment of His enemies, but the pe- 
culiar quality of these virtues as exhibited towards His 
foes present features altogether distinct. The differ- 
ence is sufficiently marked for us to make a division. 
Christ never wept over His disciples and friends as 
He did over Jerusalem. He was pained indeed and 
grieved deeply by those who followed Him, but their 
faith, trust, and love helped to> assuage the bitterness, 
while there was nothing to take the edge off the thrusts 
delivered into His heart by His enemies. There was 
always a gulf between Christ and the men who op- 
posed Him, a gulf no word of His could bridge; but 
Christ and His friends were bound together by the 
tenderest ties, and every word of the heart they pained 
and burdened so frequently sank deeply into their own 
hearts. We may well summarize His tender patience 
in the question, so full of loving reproach, spoken to 
Philip a few hours before the end: "Have I been so 



230 His Footsteps. 

long time with you, and hast thou not known me, 
Philip?" 

To begin with, those who were nearest to Jesus nat- 
urally by the ties of blood and relationship proved to 
be a trial, and sometimes a severe trial, to Him as a 
few instances serve to show. At Cana Jesus' own 
mother seems to have had no adequate conception of 
His position and work, and yet she was a woman of 
deep understanding and willing heart. Jesus turns 
her off with the reply: "Woman, what have I to do 
with thee? Mine hour is not yet come." The word 
"woman" in the English translation might bear a 
tone of impatience or of disrespect; the original Greek 
word, however, is as polite and respectful as could be 
desired. With patience, indeed, and yet with firm- 
ness, Jesus is moved to put His mother's interference 
aside; neither she nor any of His friends have special 
rights or claims or privileges in the kingdom of Christ 
and in the work of Christ. Patiently Jesus sought to 
teach His mother the lesson at Cana. We know that 
she did not learn it fully; the patience and forbear- 
ance of Jesus had to contend still further with foolish 
and inconsiderate claims. 

When Jesus was in the midst of His arduous labors, 
taxing His strength to the utmost, we suddenly come 
upon His mother and His brethren attempting to turn 
Him from His stupendous task. Their effort was 
doubtless well meant. They were solicitous for His 
health and comfort; they were anxious for His very 
life. They followed the natural prompting of their 
hearts, when they declared, "He is beside Himself", 
and when they sought to lay hold of Him and lead 



Have I Been So Long Time With You? 231 

Him away. But it is clear that they understood little 
or nothing of His true ability and of His God-given 
work. The mother of Jesus may have permitted her- 
self to be drawn along by the fears of His other rela- 
tives, who very likely led in the foolish undertaking. 
But it was impossible for Jesus to entertain the pro- 
posal of His kin. With the same unvarying and un- 
wearied patience He puts them off. "Who is my 
mother and my brethren?" Who' has a mother's 
claims or a brother's rights for me? Not those who 
are mere natural relatives, but those who are spiritu- 
ally related to me, who do the will of God. To these I 
will listen and to these will I give myself in never 
flagging labor and in completest self-sacrifice. All 
others and their claims will I put aside. 

The relatives of Jesus sought first to draw Him 
away from His work; not long afterwards they tried 
to do the very opposite, to push Him forward for 
ambitious reasons. They urged Him. "Depart 
hence, and go into Judsea, that Thy disciples also 
may see the works that Thou doest. For there is 
no man that doeth any thing in secret, and He Him- 
self seeketh to be known openly. If Thou do these 
things, show Thyself to> the world." The folly of this 
dictating to Jesus appears on the surface. Did they 
pretend to know better than Jesus Himself where and 
how His work should be done? Were they really so 
little conversant with His true aims as to imagine 
He wanted to be acknowledged and exalted by the 
worldly spirit of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem? 
Patiently Jesus tells them that He knows His own 
hour best, and that He expects only to be hated by 



232 His Footsteps. 

the world whose admiration they would have Him 
seek. "My time is not yet come — the world cannot 
hate you, but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that 
the works thereof are evil." St. John tells us how 
the relatives of Jesus came thus to push Him forward 
with worldly ambition, they did not believe in Him. 
John 7, 5. 

So long time He had been with His mother, and so 
long time with His brethren, yet the latter did not 
know Him at all in true faith, and the former could 
be induced, by inconsiderate proposals, to interfere 
with her Son's divine work. 

The disciples of Jesus tried His patience exceed- 
ingly, as we see at every turn. After all they had 
seen and heard prior to the storm on the lake, they 
could give way to the greatest dismay and fear with 
Jesus in their very midst. So dull and slow of heart 
were they after many weary months of teaching that 
the simplest parable required an explanation for their 
comprehension. Patiently, yet with a tone of re- 
proach, Jesus asks them: "Are ye also yet without 
understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that what- 
soever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, 
and is cast out into the draught? But those things 
which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the 
heart, and they defile the man." Their persistent ig- 
norance was a sore trial to their patient instructor. 
Others perhaps would have despaired. But He only 
continued His gentle chiding: "O ye of little faith, 
why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have 
brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, 
neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, 



Have I Been So Long Time With You f 238 

and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the 
seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many 
baskets ye took up?" Matth. 16, 8-10. "Have ye 
your heart yet hardened? having- eyes, see ye not? 
and having ears, hear yet not? and do ye not remem- 
ber?" Mark 8, 17. 18. — "How is it that ye do not 
understand that I spake it not to you concerning 
bread that ye should beware of the leaven of the 
Pharisees and of the Sadducees?" After all this pa- 
tient labor, finally the film was removed from their 
eyes. "Then understood they how that He bade 
them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the 
doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." 
Matth. 16, 11. 12. But the same trial of patience con- 
tinued to the last. So far was Philip from under- 
standing that he who seeth the Son seeth also the 
Father, that he could ask Jesus: "Lord, shew us the 
Father, and it sufficeth us." We feel the pain in 
Jesus' words: "Have I been so long time with you, 
and yet hast thou not known me Philip? He that 
hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest 
thou then, Shew us the Father?" John 16, 8. 9. 

It is not surprising that the actions of men who 
were so slow of heart should time and again provoke 
the patience of Jesus to rebuke. John and James 
would have called down the fire of vengeance upon 
the Samaritans whom Christ had come to save; so 
little did they "know what manner of spirit they were 
of." Luke 9, 55. After all they had heard of Christ 
regarding "little ones" (Matth 18, Mark 9), they could 
so far forget themselves as to rebuke those who 
brought "young children" to Jesus that He should 



234 His Footsteps. 

bless them, and sorely displease their Master. Just 
before the end it seems that some of the disciples be- 
sides Judas understood so little of what was due their 
Master that they could join the traitor's scowling con- 
demnation of Mary's beautiful and significant act. 
We have already seen how impossible it was for even 
the wonderful patience of Jesus to give them 'any in- 
sight into His death and resurrection. They could 
only fear and tremble; Jesus was weighed down not 
only by the anticipation of what was to come, but also 
by the constant perception of their ignorance and in- 
ability to comprehend the things to come. 

One of the greatest trials for Christ's patience was 
the unscriptural ambition of the disciples. Covertly 
at first, then openly they disputed on the question: 
"Who should be greatest?" The first instance re- 
corded is when they were walking together and talk- 
ing among themselves. When Jesus questioned them 
they were ashamed and "held their peace." Jesus tried 
hard to turn their hearts to true spiritual greatness. 
He sat down, called the twelve together, put a child 
in their midst, and said: "Verily, I say unto you, 
except ye be converted, and become as little children, 
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Who- 
soever therefore shall humble himself as this little 
child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 
And whoso shall receive one such little child in my 
name receiveth me." Matth. 18, 3-5. 

But soon we meet the peculiar attempt of James 
and John, aided by their mother, to secure the highest 
places in the coming kingdom, that on Christ's right 
and on His left hand. Jesus frankly told them: "Ye 



Have I Been So Long Time With You f 235 

know not what ye ask." These high places "shall be 
given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father." 
And when the other disciples grew indignant at John 
and James for thus attempting to snatch the loftiest 
honors for themselves, Jesus patiently told them all 
the old truth: "Whosoever will be great among you, 
shall be your minister: and whosoever of you will be 
chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of 
Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister 
and to give His life a ransom for many." Mark 10, 
4:5-45. 

Even the last hours of Christ were disturbed and 
pained by this pitifully ignorant rivalry for greatness. 
The solemn words and manner of Jesus as He assem- 
bles with them for His last meal before death, is not 
able to quench the to them so exceedingly important 
question: "Which of them should be accounted the 
greatest." It seems that each of them was so afraid 
of yielding any honor or precedence to the rest, that 
none of them would humble himself so much as to 
perform the service of washing the feet of his com- 
rades. Custom made this washing indispensable, es- 
pecially on so important an occasion as the present one, 
when they came in together from the street to eat the 
solemn passover feast. The humble patience of Jesus 
now made its last and greatest attempt to crush the 
foolish ambition of these unspiritual men, and to point 
them to the only road of greatness in His kingdom; 
He washed their feet Himself and told them: "If I 
then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, 
ye also ought to wash one another's feet; for I have 
given you an example, that ye should do as I have 



236 His Footsteps. 

done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The ser- 
vant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is 
sent greater than He that sent him. If ye know these 
things, happy are ye if ye do them." John 13, 14-17. 
It is impossible to say how long their folly would yet 
have tried the patience of Christ if He had remained 
among them. After Christ's death and the mission 
of the Holy Spirit we hear no more of the old dispute. 

But before that death occurred, the most painful 
blows fell upon the patient heart of Jesus. One of 
the twelve, hardening his heart against all the love of 
Jesus, gave himself to Satan and sold his Master for 
thirty pieces of silver; another of the twelve, in his 
presumptuous boldness, entered the circle of tempta- 
tion and fell shamefully, denying his Master thrice 
almost within earshot of the patient Sufferer. And 
all of the disciples, after making their own Peter's 
proud promises of faithfulness unto death, and after 
letting their Master wrestle alone for hours without 
one word of comfort from their lips, turned their 
backs upon Him and fled in cowardly dismay when 
He was led away. All this was laid like a crushing 
burden upon Him whose patience exceeds our com- 
prehension. 

But we dare not stop yet in the story of Christ's 
patience. Once more, after the resurrection, we hear 
the rebuke from Jesus' lips and His never-tiring pa- 
tient instruction: "O fools, and slow of heart to be- 
lieve all that the prophets have spoken!" On the 
way to Emmaus Christ goes on with the patient work 
He had been doing for almost three years. And even 
now yet Thomas dares to doubt and to demand spe- 



Have I Been So Long Time With You f 237 

cial proofs from the patience of Jesus. Jesus does 
not put him off, once more His patience shines out, 
and Thomas sinks down overcome at His feet. 

Where was there ever patience like this? 

In every Christian life there will be an unceasing 
call for patience in the intercourse with relatives and 
with friends generally. Christ's experience keeps re- 
peating itself day by day, our nearest and dearest 
friends often fail to understand our inmost intentions, 
fail to appreciate our purposes and efforts, fail to esti- 
mate correctly our burdens, sacrifices, and conflicts. 
Their coldness will chill our enthusiasm, their way- 
ward or ignorant opposition will cripple or hinder 
our best plans, their unsympathetic spirit will leave us 
to stand and bear and labor and contend and suffer 
alone, yea, their blindness will estimate our highest 
aspirations and our best achievements as so much 
folly. Their slights will hurt our hearts, their wrongs 
will grieve us deeply, their falseness and fickleness 
will pierce us to the quick. These trials in the midst 
of friends begin with childhood days. How often has 
a father's blindness and lack of sympathy increased 
his son's sorrow. And old age has still the same load 
to bear, finding itself misunderstood by the young. 
As long as we live in this world full of inperfections 
and shortcomings we will find love lacking, and our 
hearts sorelv oppressed by the painful results of this 
lack. 

Xor must we be surprised to find painful shortcom- 
ings of this kind in those of whom we have a right 
to expect far better things. Men of great learning, 
experience, and piety will repeat the selfish or the un- 



238 His Footsteps. 

sympathetic actions of the friends of Jesus. Those 
who should treat us most considerately will frequently 
trample our feelings under foot. Those who should 
shine with a brilliant example will often misuse and 
abuse their liberty and thus offend grievously others 
who endeavor to look up to them. The Lord's in- 
junction against offending little ones in the faith is 
a strong warning against the wilfulness and careless- 
ness of those whose superior strength should be most 
considerate and careful. From all sides, even where 
we ought to have least reason to expect it, our pa- 
tience will be taxed. 

But we must not forget that, unlike Christ, we our- 
selves are only too often the cause of the sorrow in 
the hearts of our friends. Where Hs was perfect, and 
never wounded the hearts of His friends by the least 
slight or misdemeanor of thought or act, we are im- 
perfect and by a hundred faults wound others, even 
as they in turn wound us. For this very reason, how- 
ever, we should bear patiently what comes upon our 
guilty hearts. If the innocent heart of Jesus turned 
not against those of His friends who wounded Him, 
much more should we who are not innocent suffer 
without a murmur and hold out in patience. Besides 
this, we are only too often to blame, at least in a 
measure, when our friends fail of their duty toward 
us. How often do others misunderstand us because 
we ourselves have given them reason for false inter- 
pretation of our motives or purposes? How often 
do our friends wound us because we ourselves have 
provoked them? But again this only emphasizes our 
obligation of patience. Tf the perfect heart and con- 



Have I Been So Long Time With You f 239 

duct of Jesus could bear quietly the failings of His 
friends, much more should we who lack so much of 
perfection. 

Natural wisdom already counsels patience toward 
our friends, for' impatience and resentment only serve 
to repel the friends we have and to leave us so much 
the more alone. But Christian patience goes far 
deeper than any counsel of natural wisdom. Its mo- 
tive is not self-interest in any form, but self-sacrifice 
after the example of Christ. The worldly man may 
refrain from breaking with his friends and from turn- 
ing in bitterness against them, by the calculation of 
profit for himself or his plans; he may even seek to 
utilize the ignorance or perversity of his friends for his 
own ends by shrewdly humoring their notions and ac- 
commodating himself to« their selfishness. But the 
Christian will do nothing of the kind. He will forget 
self and think of Christ; he will put aside the thought 
of joys or profits for self, and give his heart willingly 
to suffer without bitterness after the example of Christ. 
He will not seek selfish ends by shrewd calculations 
of hypocritical accommodation, but will labor patiently 
by word and deed to win the hearts of his erring 
friends for truth, love, and righteousness. The mo- 
tives and secret springs of patience towards friends in 
the Christian heart all reach down into Christ, who 
is ever patient with us, and whose patience seeks to 
reflect itself in us. 

The character of Christian patience is well shown in 
the example of Christ. However wayward, weak, 
foolish, blind, and perverse His friends, there is no 
shadow of passion or resentment in His heart. Though 



240 His Footsteps. 

deeply pained and shamefully wronged, He never 
breaks out in bitter words. Patience in us must be 
free from resentful bitterness. Not that we dare dull 
our hearts in stoic coldness, which would be most un- 
like the patient forbearance of Christ. He freely ex- 
presses His surprise at the painful ignorance of His 
friends; He frequently lets them feel how deeply they 
have wounded Him; He even chides them with words 
throbbing with patient love. Likewise our patience 
may exclaim: Have I been so long with you, and 
have ye not known me, my friends? Our patience 
may ask: Can ye not watch one single hour with me 
in my sorrow? or: Simon, lovest thou me indeed? 
And our patience may also' demand: Put up thy 
sword ! or declare frankly : Ye know not what ye ask 
or do. But every note of vengeful bitterness in any 
such expression of our pain is contrary to Christlike - 
ness. St. Paul exhorts us to true Christian patience 
when he writes: "I therefore, the prisoner of the 
Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the voca- 
tion wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and 
meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another 
in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in 
the bond of peace." Eph. 4, 1-3. Lowliness and 
meekness will greatly aid Christian patience, wherefore 
the same apostle bids us: "For I say through the 
grace that is given me, to every man among you, 
not to think of himself more highly than he ought to 
think, but to think soberly, according as God hath 
dealt to every man the measure of faith. — In honor 
preferring one another." Rom. 12, 3. 10. If we would 



Have I Been So Long Time With You f 241 

be patient we must eradicate constantly "a fond conceit 
of ourselves." 

Christ never wearied of patiently instructing His 
friends and disciples. He showed them again and 
again His own inmost heart full of humility, love, and 
patience; He opened ever anew to them the spiritual 
glories of His kingdom, greatness in lowliness, g'reat- 
ness in self-sacrifice, greatness in tireless labors of love. 
He did not let their dense ignorance drive Him to 
despair of enlightening their hearts, or their foolish 
adherence to old, perverse notions overcome His un- 
wearied efforts in drawing their hearts to the hopes that 
rest on truth. 

St. Paul follows the same line, when he writes to 
Timothy: "Preach the Word; be instant in season 
and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all 
long-suffering and doctrine" — yea, with all long-suffer- 
ing, which is tireless patience. He would have us 
bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of 
Christ. Impatience tires at once, derides the igno- 
rant, will not burden itself with the arduous work of 
lifting the weak, instructing the ignorant, correcting 
the perverse. But Christlike patience counts this 
very self-sacrificing task precious, and its achieve- 
ments are its fairest crown. Like Christ on the way 
to Emmaus the Christlike heart will range itself along- 
side the weak and ignorant, enter into their difficulties, 
and use all the ingenuity and fervor of love in helping 
them upward and onward. 

A necessary form of patience is forgiveness. Daily 
Christ forgave the disciples when so often, even with- 
out knowing it, they wounded Him. We know how 



242 His Footsteps. 

Peter was forgiven. The Master Himself had aston- 
ished that disciple by giving him as the rule of Chris- 
tian forgiveness: "Take heed to yourselves: If thy 
brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he 
repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee 
seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn 
again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him." 
Luke 17, 3. 4. And once when Peter came and in- 
quired: "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against 
me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" he received 
the reply: "I say not unto thee seven times; but until 
seventy times seven." Matth. 18, 21. 22. Paul's ad- 
monition is only a variation of this theme of patience 
in forgiveness: "Let all bitterness and wrath and an- 
ger and clamor and evil-speaking be put away from 
you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, 
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for 
Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Eph. 4, 32. "Put 
on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved," 
who are conformed to the image of Christ in patient 
forgiveness, "bowels of mercies, kindness, humble- 
ness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one 
another, and forgiving one another, if any man have 
a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so 
also do ye." Col. 3, 13. Severely the apostle rebukes 
the Corinthians for going to law when one had a mat- 
ter against another. "Why do ye not rather take 
wrong?" he asks them, pointing them unto Christlike 
patience. "Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to 
be defrauded?" 1 Cor. 6, 7. Patience is ever ready to 
forgive, and ever ready to suffer wrong. Patience 
does not stand stubbornly on its rights over against 



Have I Been So Long Time With You f 243 

brethren who are inclined to disregard them. Pa- 
tience will demand these rights quietly and firmly only 
when their constant disregard would produce evil. 
By suffering and well-doing the patient heart heaps 
coals of fire upon the heads of those who make it suffer, 
even its own selfish and perverse friends, and finds its 
reward in winning them from their faults and sins. 

Patience is like a plant with many roots, it grows 
from meekness, humility, kindness, charity, forbear- 
ance, forgiveness, long-suffering, and love. Cut one 
of the roots and patience withers. It is one of the es- 
sential Christian virtues; without it every Christian 
community on earth would be torn to pieces, and every 
bond of unity be rent in twain. Let us cement our 
hearts together in this vale of sin and sorrow with un- 
adulterated Christlike patience. In heaven all the bur- 
dens of the patient will be removed. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

MOVED WITH COMPASSION. 

/^\HRIST'S blessed compassion is reflected in all 
\[, true followers of His steps. 
^^ When Jesus beheld the multitude that fol- 
lowed Him, and noted that they fainted and were scat- 
tered abroad as sheep having no shepherd, we are 
told that He ''was moved with compassion on them." 
Matth. 9, 36. And again, after the Baptist had been 
slain and the disciples returned from their preaching 
tour, when Jesus withdrew into the desert and was 
pursued by much people, beholding them gathered to- 
gether as sheep without a shepherd, He was "moved 
with compassion toward them," and forgetting for the 
moment His sorrow and the report His disciples were 
to make of their work, He obeyed the compassion of 
His heart and taught them many things. Mark 6, 34. 
And yet a third time we are told of the compassion of 
Jesus, when He beheld the hungry multitude in the 
desert mountain-place far from any village where food 
might be secured. "I have compassion on the multi- 
tude," are His own words, "because they continue 
with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and 
I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the 
wav." Matth. 15, 32. 




IVIiii can have compassion on the ignorant, and on 
lit,, i, that are out of the way. — Heb. 5, 2. 



Moved With Compassion. 245 

As Jesus was moved to pity and sympathy by the 
distress of entire multitudes, so also the sufferings and 
sorrows of individuals stirred His heart deeply. A 
leper came to Jesus, kneeling down and beseeching 
Him: "If Thou wilt Thou canst make me clean." 
And compassion moved Jesus to cleanse him. 
Mark 1, 41. The widow of Nain weeping behind the 
bier of her only son filled Christ's heart with compas- 
sion, and moved Him to say: "Weep not." Blind 
Bartimaeus and his fellow standing before the Master 
on the road from Jericho touched His heart, and Jesus 
had compassion on them and gave them sight. 

These isolated instances in which the compassion of 
Jesus is expressly recorded are so much evidence, 
proving that His heart was ever filled with merciful 
kindness and feelings of pity for the distressed of every 
description. Whenever and wherever suffering and 
sorrow of body or soul met His eyes, His heart was 
moved with compassion. The compassion of Jesus is 
one of the deepest, richest, most comforting of all His 
Savior qualities. 

The word which the Scriptures use to express the 
compassion of Jesus signifies literally "to have the 
bowels of yearning." It is a word to designate the 
deepest kind of feeling. There is another somewhat 
like it, yet not so strong; it is likewise translated com- 
passion, but signifies literally to have sympathy, to 
feel with the sufferer in his distress. But the former 
expresses more than a simple sharing or partaking of 
the sufferer's pained feeling; it shows a yearning and 
a deep desire to relieve the suffering and to remove 
the distress. And we must name vet a third word re- 



246 His Footsteps. 

peatedly used in the Scriptures; it is also translated 
by compassion, but signifies literally "to show mild- 
ness or kindness." It is the fruit of sympathy with 
the sufferer, the result of the yearning to help and re- 
lieve, it expresses the mild, kind help that is given to 
the distressed. When we take all three together we 
have a true and complete description of Christ's com- 
passion. 

It is well to glance at what calls out this compas- 
sion. Properly speaking, it is not our sin and guilt 
that moves Christ unto compassion, but the spiritual 
and bodily misery and distress that forms the bitter 
fruit of sin. Our sin and guilt appeals to God's grace, 
but our misery and woe appeals to His compassion. 
Grace alone can remove our sin, but compassion re- 
moves our distress. To be sure, grace and compas- 
sion are both united in the heart of God and of His 
Son. "God so loved the world with a pitying love 
(herein was the eleos, the compassion) that He gave 
His Only-Begotten Son (herein the charis, the grace) 
that the world through Him might be saved." (Trench.) 
In eternity compassion prompted God to extend His 
grace; but in time grace and forgiveness is the foun- 
dation of compassion and compassionate relief. First 
Christ forgave the man sick of the palsy, then He 
healed his disease. If there were no grace for our 
sin, there could be no compassion for our misery. It 
was He who came to save His people from their sin 
who also put forth His hand to heal their diseases and 
remove their sufferings. 

Sickness, all kinds of bodily infirmities, hunger, pov- 
erty, human sorrow for the dead, but especially spirit- 



Moved With Compassion. 247 

ual ignorance and destitution, the hunger of shepherd- 
less hearts, the troubles of distressed consciences, move 
Christ to compassion. 

And He shows this compassion freely. "I have com- 
passion on the multitude," He tells us. He depicts 
the distress of the needy with touching words; they 
are to His eyes "sheep without a shepherd," they will 
''faint by the way." His compassion urges others to 
like feelings: "Give ye them to eat." When the sin- 
ful woman in Simon's house wept at Christ's feet, 
moved by infinite compassion, He drew a striking pic- 
ture of her humble offer of love and held it up to the 
loveless heart of His host. The deep sorrow of Mary 
for her dead brother moves Jesus even unto tears. And 
He weeps likewise over the doomed city of Jerusalem, 
seeing in spirit the terrors that will crush out her life. 
He from whom all the tortures of His foes could not 
wring a single groan, is so overcome by compassion 
that with streaming eyes He laments over the city of 
His foes — "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least 
in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace — 
but now they are hid from thine eyes." Freely the com- 
passion of Jesus showed all its infinite tenderness and 
depth. 

But the compassion of Jesus is nothing like the 
empty pity and superficial sympathy of the world. 
Jesus sees deep down into the root of all our human 
misery; He knows that it all results from sin. It is not 
the mere suffering alone that touches His heart and 
softens it in compassion, it is the deadliness of sin 
showing itself in all these manifold forms of suffering 
which touches Him to the quick and pierces His heart 



248 His Footsteps. 

through and through with real compassion. He sees 
that all our distress of body and soul is only the pre- 
lude to the fire that will not be quenched and the worm 
that will never die. It is impossible, therefore, for His 
compassion to be inactive. And it is likewise im- 
possible for His compassion to be satisfied with mere 
bodily relief of pain and woe. 

Jesus feeds the hungry with earthly bread, but He 
first feeds their souls with the heavenly bread. Jesus 
heals the paralytic of his bodily disease, but first for- 
gives him his sin. Jesus awakes Lazarus from the 
dead, but first He points the sisters to the glory of God. 
And where the bodily relief precedes, it is ever meant 
only as a stepping-stone to faith in Him as the Christ of 
God, that body and soul may receive the salvation of 
the Lord. 

It would be false to view the compassion of Jesus as 
mere philanthropy after the fashion of the world. Men 
may be satisfied with a little superficial bodily relief, 
but Jesus never is. "Charity," as practiced by the un- 
godly, which lets the soul perish while it eases the 
body, is but a pitiable caricature of the charity and 
compassion of Jesus. The charity of Jesus sees all 
our distress, and its mighty aim is to remove it ail and 
forever by going back and removing its very root. 
The compassion of Jesus can be understood only by 
those who see in Him the everlasting Savior of man- 
kind. 

Jesus was especially fitted for compassion with all 
who suffer. "He can have compassion on the igno- 
rant and on them that are out of the way, for that He 
Himself also is compassed with infirmity." Heb. 5, 2. 



Moved With Compassion. 249 

Although "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin- 
ners, and made higher than the heavens," being the 
perfect, sinless Son of God and Son of man, yet He 
"was made in the likeness of men," and was "touched 
with the feeling of our infirmities," and was "in all 
points tempted like a.s we are, yet without sin." He 
was no stranger to hunger and weariness, pain and 
tears; He was no alien to the grief that hatred and 
treachery and all the evil passions of men inflict on the 
heart; He knew well what it means to battle against 
temptation and all the insidious assaults of the evil 
one. His experiences as the Son of man among men 
and their sin and misery make Him one who could 
feel compassion as no other. 

Though sinless Himself He bore our sin and guilt, 
and all the terrors of our sin spent themselves on His 
innocent soul in Gethsemane. And He felt all these 
terrors, together with all the distress of body, mind 
and soul which sin produces, in all their pitiless keen- 
ness; for none of His senses were blunted as are our 
own, nor His Spirit deadened as is our own with sin 
dwelling in us. Just because He who. bore our flesh 
and its infirmities was the pure and holy Son of God, 
sin and misery touched Him with an awfulness of 
which we feel only a part. And therefore His compas- 
sion with suffering sinners is a thousand times deeper 
than that of any man on earth. 

In an imperishable picture Christ Himself has de- 
picted His infinite compassion toward us in our distress. 
The good Samaritan of the parable is a human re- 
flection of the compassionate heart of Jesus. As the 
pitiable condition of the wounded man by the wayside 



250 His Footsteps. 

touched the sympathetic heart of the Samaritan, and 
moved him to do everything possible to relieve and 
help and heal, so all our human distress, every wound 
that pierces us, every unrighteousness and wrong that 
sheds its bitterness upon us, moves the heart of Jesus 
with mighty compassion, and He leaves nothing un- 
done to rid us of our woe and its deadly cause. But 
we see reflections of this same compassion of Christ 
everywhere in His teaching. The father of the prodi- 
gal, when he sees his son in pitiful rags and bowed in 
shame, still a great way off, is filled with compassion, 
and hastens to meet him. The lord of the servant who 
owed ten thousand talents and could not pay a penny 
is likewise moved with compassion at the begger lying 
prone before him, and forgives the entire debt. And 
there is the same note of infinite compassion with our 
wretchedness in every utterance like: "Come unto 
me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden." 

The wonderful compassion of Jesus is first of all 
a never-failing source of comfort for our weary and 
troubled hearts. But it is more, it is a glorious ex- 
ample for us to follow. The parable of the compas- 
sionate Samaritan ends with the admonition: "Go 
and do thou likewise." And the parable of the prodi- 
gal son in its last half, and especially the parable of 
the debtor who received compassion but would not 
himself show compassion, are two powerful warnings 
against the unfeeling hardness that "shutteth up the 
bowels of compassion" and "passeth by on the other 
side." And Peter's admonition is plain: "Finally, 
be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of an- 
other; love as brethren, be pitiful." 1 Peter 3, 8. 



Moved With Compassion. 251 

And this compassion in the hearts of those who have 
tasted the compassion of Christ, must be like that of 
Christ, far more than soft-hearted, superficial, and 
flabby pity. It is not enough to be moved at sight of 
poverty, wounds, or death; nor is it enough to give 
bread to the hungry, to bind up the limbs that are 
broken, to comfort the hearts that mourn. True 
Christlike compassion goes deeper and does more. 
Readers of emotional novels and frequenters of thea- 
ters are often stirred deeply by the pathetic picture 
presented to their imaginations; perhaps they weep 
again and again at what they read or see, but when 
actual misery appeals to them, they do just as little to 
relieve that as they do> to relieve their imaginary stage 
sufferers. To awaken the feeling of pity without urg- 
ing the heart to benevolent action is to paralyze all 
true compassion. But even where the feeling is al- 
lowed to become a motive for benevolent and chari- 
table action, much may still be wanting. Emotional 
appeals have often prompted men to instant action; 
whole audiences have been so moved and carried away 
by pity as to give all they could lay hands on, purses 
and jewelry and checks written then and there, to re- 
lieve the suffering that produced the momentary feel- 
ing. But on»e glance at the calm and constant compas- 
sion of Jesus must show us the vast difference between 
such emotional outbursts and real steady Christlike 
compassion. Bodily distress always affects the be- 
holder, and often produces benevolent deeds in people 
altogether godless. 

True compassion looks upon human distress with 
the eves of Christ, and stretches forth its hand to re- 



252 His Footsteps. 

lieve with the love of Christ. True compassion sees 
the misery of men as it really is, and seeks to relieve 
this misery by removing its deadly cause. Christlike 
compassion recognizes all misery as the outgrowth and 
fruit of sin, and fills the heart with yearning to remove 
not only a little of the visible bodily suffering, but all 
the pitiful distress of body and of soul alike, yea more 
than all and above all sin itself. A hungry stomach 
is bad enough, but a starving soul is far worse. 
A broken bone is a painful hurt, but a broken and shat- 
tered will, giving way helplessly to every vicious 
prompting of the tempter, is a far more painful sight. 
To feed a beggar and do no more is better than to 
turn him away tearfully; but to set the bread of life 
together with earthly bread before him is Christlike 
compassion. To bind up a broken limb is better than 
with stony heart to leave the sufferer in his agony; 
but to add to the liniment for the flesh the balm of 
Gilead for the heart is Christlike compassion. Christ- 
like compasion sees something of the true nature of 
human misery and knows something of its true cure. 
It is therefore a deep, true, and abiding quality of the 
heart, and a never-failing source of Christlike action. 
It mingles alms and service and prayer and spiritual 
aid, as did Christ our example. 

And all its feeling and effort is truer and purer be- 
cause back of it lies the Christian's own experience 
of sin and its misery and of Christ's grace and com- 
passion. Having tasted of the same infirmities, flow- 
ing from the bitter fountain of sin, as our fellow-suffer- 
ers, we can sympathize with them, as can no one who 
has not known the sorrowful deeps of repentance. 



Moved With Compassion. 253 

Having rejoiced in the healing, helping, comforting, 
saving love and compassion of Christ, we can bring 
to the aid of the sufferers we meet a compassion full 
of resources of which the world knows nothing. 

Blessed therefore are the merciful, for they shall 
obtain mercy; yea, blessed are the compassionate who 
tread in Jesus' footsteps, they shall receive compassion. 



CHAPTER XX. 

IF I HAVE TOLD YOU THE TRUTH. 

IF any man offend not in word, the same is a per- 
fect man." Such was the God-man. No guile 
was ever found in His mouth, His every word 
and deed was filled with truth, and nothing was more 
averse to Him than falseness of heart or action. 

Jesus was not merely truthful, nor was He merely 
of the truth or a child of truth; He was all this and 
infinitely more, He was truth itself. "I am the way, 
the truth, and the life." It is well to note this dis- 
tinction, that we may appreciate His perfection as 
our example. Jesus was not merely truthful, that is, 
His words were not merely correct, and were not 
merely honest expressions of His thoughts. Jesus 
was not merely of the truth, full of longing for divine, 
everlasting truth, and inwardlv illuminated, renewed, 
and purified by the reception of truth. He was truth 
itself, the very embodiment and source of divine truth, 
the outflow and expression of divine truth for men, 
the fountain of all that illuminates, renews, purifies, 
uplifts, and saves our fallen race. 

Jesus is the very opposite of Satan; the latter is 
not only a liar and deceiver, not only one who is of 
the untruth, who has drawn from the source of false- 
hood and lies; he is himself the father of lies, who 



If I Have Told You the Truth. 255 

propagates lies everywhere in every possible form. 
Jesus Himself said as much when He told the Jews: 
"I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and 
ye do that which ye have seen with your father. * * * 
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your 
father ye will do. He was a murderer from the be- 
ginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is 
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speak- 
eth of his own, for he is a liar, and' the father of it." 
John 8, 38, etc. 

The entire life of Jesus, His every word and deed, 
proves Him to be the express image of the Father 
of everlasting truth sent into the world to bear wit- 
ness for the truth. It would lead us too far to follow 
His fife in detail. We will here refer only to the sum- 
mary challenge with which Christ confronted His 
enemies. They had proved and tested Him at every 
point, with the hardest, most complicated, and dan- 
gerous questions possible; through all the black, 
dreary clouds of their error and ignorance the won- 
derful light of His eternal wisdom and truth had sent 
its pure and stainless rays. But they loved darkness 
rather than light, the fountain of falsehood more than 
the everlasting well-spring of life and light-giving 
truth. Therefore Christ challenged them: "Because 
I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of 
you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, 
why do ye not believe me?" Could they convince 
Him of a single false statement or act? Could they 
point out a single trace of error or of falsehood in His 
life, which lay open before them, and which they 
themselves had watched with jealous and evil eyes? 



256 His Footsteps. 

Now was their hour to speak and condemn. But 
their tongues could frame no reply ; they were utterly 
condemned by the question: "If I say the truth, why 
do ye not believe me?" and by the open statement 
from the lips of Him whose truth they could not im- 
peach: "He that is of God" (of the truth) "heareth 
God's words" (heareth my voice, the voice of Him 
who is truth and beareth witness of the truth); "ye 
therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God" 
(not of the truth, but of the father of lies). In their 
helpless anger they were able to utter only the lying 
slander: "Say we not well that Thou art a Samari- 
tan, and hast a devil?" They were vanquished com- 
pletely to the challenge of truth; they verified, in 
their way, by their inability to answer the challenge, 
that Jesus is indeed more than truthful, or of the 
truth, namely very truth itself. 

This is not the only instance in which Christ chal- 
lenged His enemies and appealed to them. On one 
occasion He directed special attention to His works, 
which were one with His words: "The works that I 
do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me." 
* * * "If I do not the works of my Father, believe 
me not. But if I do the works, though ye believe 
not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and 
believe, that the Father is in me, and I in Him." 
John 10, 38, etc. Again His enemies could make 
no reply, but simply sought to take Him. And when 
at last He had given Himself into their hands, when 
they sought by all means, fair or foul, to bring some 
accusation against Him, they again, and for the last 



If I Have Told You the Truth. 257 

time, failed utterly. They could not in the slightest 
degree impeach the truth of a single word or deed. 

We turn now to a few incidents which serve to 
show us how the divine witness for the truth walked 
the narrow path of truth amid this world full of error 
and deception. Christ was unwilling to tolerate the 
slightest error regarding Himself. When a certain 
ruler addressed Him as the "Good Master", Christ 
refused the appellation; He was no mere "good mas- 
ter", good rabbi, one among many, though greater in 
the degree of His goodness than others, and He re- 
fused to be so considered. His goodness was divine, 
and only in that exalted sense would He tolerate men 
to call Him the "Master" or the "Good Master.'" 
There was more than any human goodness in Him; 
when men felt and acknowledged this, He willingly 
bore with what ignorance yet darkened their minds, 
and used all the means of His wisdom to lead them 
fully into the light. 

Christ never made the slightest attempt to accommo- 
date Himself to the false Messianic ideals of the Jews,, 
or of His own disciples and friends. When they 
would have made Him a king, after the miraculous, 
feeding of the five thousand, He hurried His foolish 
disciples off across the lake and sent the multitude 
away, and on the following day preached that memor- 
able sermon on the Bread of Life, which dashed the 
vain fleshly hopes of the multitude and turned alii 
their idle expectations to naught. When Peter, still 
dreaming of earthly glory for His divine Master, took 
Jesus aside to urge Him against a course of suffering, 
shame, and death, the firm hand of the Master re- 



258 His Footsteps. 

pellcd the temptation. He who came to draw all men 
unto Him never used the slightest deception in seek- 
ing or attempting to hold their favor. 

To be sure, Christ did not at once and at all times, 
• in so many blunt words, proclaim Himself the Son 
of God. In Him the highest truth and the deepest 
wisdom were combined. He sought to lead men step 
by step in all that He taught regarding Himself and 
His kingdom. When men were ready, He told them 
plainly who He was. After He had touched the heart 
of the woman at the well at Sychar, He told her di- 
rectly that He was the Messiah ; after He had healed 
the blind man at Jerusalem, and had filled his heart 
with longing for a greater healing, Christ told him 
plainly: I am the Son of God. When the time came. 
He asked His disciples, who had felt and acknowl- 
edged His divinity from the beginning, Whom do 
ye say that I am? When His words and works had 
given ample testimony to the Jews, He withheld not 
the open proclamation, that He was sent of the Fa- 
ther, that He was indeed the Son of God. And at 
last He sealed with an oath the solemn declaration 
in the face of death, that He was indeed Christ, the 
Son of the living God. Those who were of the truth 
He led with all tenderness, care, and wisdom unto the 
fulness of truth; those who resisted the truth, and 
persisted against the truth in their love of sin and 
falsehood, He confronted with all the fulness of truth, 
that they might see indeed what they were rejecting 
to their own condemnation, that they might have no 
excuse and not be able to cast blame upon Him. 
When men were unprepared, Christ made every ef- 



If I Have Told You the Truth. 259 

fort to prepare them for the truth; when they would 
not permit themselves to be prepared, Christ showed 
them their awful sin by confronting them with the 
fulness and blessedness of the truth they rejected. 

As He dealt truthfully with men regarding His 
own person, so He dealt truthfully with them regard- 
ing their own persons. He revealed the sins of men, 
that they might be brought to repentance and salva- 
tion. Self-righteous boasters He sent invariably to 
the Law; they who> deluded themselves with the 
thought that they had kept the Law were awakened 
out of their delusion. The rich young ruler is pointed 
to his secret love of riches, that he might see the emp- 
tiness of his boast and repent. The lawyer who 
wished to excuse himself by the question, "Who is 
my neighbor?" is robbed of his excuse, and sent to fol- 
low the example of the good Samaritan. Again and 
again the disciples find their littleness of faith laid 
bare. Martha is pointed to her mistake. The mur- 
derous thoughts of the Jews are exposed fully to the 
light; all their hypocrisy, all their falseness, vanity, 
covetousness, and godlessness is brought home to 
them in a hundred different ways with telling effect. 
Christ never gave any man the slightest cause for de- 
ceiving himself in regard to himself. 

Of all sins one sin especially is hateful to God, dan- 
gerous to man, and intolerable to the Son of God and 
man; it is the sin of hypocrisy. It is this which 
called out the most scathing denunciation from the 
lips so full of heavenly love. What Jesus found in 
Nathanael, he did not find in the leaders of His peo- 
ple. They were given to the most depraving deceit. 



260 His Footsteps. 

Long prayer?, alms, and fasts for show; broad phy- 
lacteries, a sanctimonious air, the most scrupulous at- 
tention to the thousand and one points of their self- 
made legal system, and a heart that knew not nor 
cared for justice and mercy, full of the worst kind of 
bigotry, lying, slander, envy, hatred, pride, arrogance, 
thieving, murder. They were of the devil and pre- 
tended to be of God. If only they had admitted their 
deviltry, Christ could better have borne them. But 
their very hypocrisy rendered all their other sins 
abominable beyond endurance. Their sin cloaked in 
the garb of sanctity could not practice its despicable 
deceit upon the true and holy Son of God. When 
their obstinate adherence to falseness would not yield 
in the least, Christ was compelled to repeat and to 
amplify the denunciations of His forerunner John the 
Baptist. Not a single syllable of those burning woes 
is to the slig-htest degree untrue either in letter or in 
spirit. 

Because Jesus was not only truthful, but very truth 
itself, there is in all His utterances against man's sin, 
no trace of unholy or uncharitable passion. He did 
not strive nor cry (Matth. 12, 19); there was no pas- 
sionate bitterness in His heart or on His lips. There 
are tears in His eyes as He weeps over the doomed 
city and nation. While He points out the worst sins 
of His foes and reveals their relation to the devil, He 
again and again stretches out the hand of grace to 
seek and to save the lost. And when their fury at 
last wreaked its vengeance upon His holy head, He 
reviled not nor threatened, but looked only to the 
Father who had sent Him. This is the example of 



If I Have Told You the Truth. 261 

divine truth, truth full of grace and love, truth holy 
altogether, and higher than the heavens. Its every 
word is calm and deliberate, not one syllable too much 
nor too little, not a single epithet too strong or too 
weak, not a single chiding too soon or too late. 
"Never man spake like this Man." 

As Christ rebuked and denounced the deception 
He constantly encountered, so He never practiced a 
single form of deception. His heart knew no fear, 
and never made a false or cowardly evasion. When 
the question of divorce was brought before Him, He 
was guided in His reply by no fear of offending the 
two parties among the Jews, or Herod, the adulter 1 
ous tetrarch, who had already slain the Baptist for 
the sake of his adulterous wife Herodias. "Is it law- 
ful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?" 
Hillel and bis school answered yes, and opened the 
door for the gravest abuse; Shammai answered no, 
yet failed to explain the divorce permitted by Moses. 
Jesus showed the error of both these great Jewish 
teachers; he spoke in the interest of no man, but only 
of truth which is for the true interest of every man. 
To the question, "Is it lawful", Christ replied: "Have 
ye not read?" To the further entangling question: 
"Why then did Moses command to give a writing of 
divorcement and put her away?" He answered: 
"Moses, indeed, for your hard-heartedness permitted 
you to put away your wives, but from the beginning 
it was not so." And now comes the answer, so fear- 
less, and so true at once: "Whoever putteth away his 
wife and marrieth another, except for fornication, 
committeth adultery; and lie who marrieth a di- 



262 His Footsteps. 

vorced woman committeth adultery." Herod might 
send out his armed men, the divided followers of 
Hillel and Shammai might unite in their antagonism 
against Jesus, 

" The Word they shall let stand 
And not a thank have for it." 

The truthfulness of Him who was truth itself shines 
out especially in His openness toward His disciples and 
followers. He bade those who would cast their lot 
with Him to count the cost. When a certain man 
came and offered himself: "Lord, I will follow Thee 
whithersoever Thou goest", Jesus replied: "Foxes 
have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the 
Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." Per- 
haps the man found the cost too great; but Christ 
deceived him not. Not only did Christ tell His dis- 
ciples of His own death, and continue to tell them 
when they would not understand, He likewise told 
them plainly what they might expect for themselves. 
Immediately after choosing the twelve we hear that 
memorable utterance in the sermon on the Mount, 
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous- 
ness sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And 
more plainly still and more clearly foretelling what 
the disciples might look for: "Blessed are ye, when 
men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall 
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 
Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your re- 
ward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets 
which were before you." Matth. 5, 10, etc. The fur- 
ther the disciples went the more they were told, "The 



If I Have Told You the Truth. 263 

servant is not greater than his lord. If they have 
persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they have 
kept my saying, they will keep yours also." John 
15. 20. — 'They shall put you out of the synagogues: 
yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will 
think that he doeth God service." John 16, 2. Yet 
He who truthfully foretold all that His followers 
would be called upon to suffer and endure for His 
sake, left not untold all that they would gain forever 
by remaining faithful until death. He sought to win 
and to hold men only by the true treasures of the 
kingdom. 

Christ was ever open in His life of truth. When 
asked at last concerning His doctrine He could truth- 
fully say: "I spake openly to> the world; I ever 
taught in the synagogues and in the temple, whither 
the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said 
nothing." John 18, 20. He Himself faithfully fol- 
lowed the word spoken to timid Nicodemus at night: 
"Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither 
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his 
deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in 
God." John 3, 10, etc. The only secret part of His 
life was when He retired into solitude to pray; and 
even these private prayers are laid open to us in His 
teachings and in the prayers with His disciples. With 
the foolish, unimportant things of men Jesus wasted 
no time; idle questions He turned to account by di- 
recting attention to the deeper needs of man. The 
woman that would praise His mother is told who 
Christ's true mother, brother, and sister is. Some- 



264 His Footsteps. 

time? silence was the best expression of truth. The 
silence of Christ at His trial before Pilate and Herod 
was the best defense of His innocence and truth, and 
the most crushing refutation of the accusations of 
the Jews. 

He who lived as the embodiment of truth, died at 
last as the King of truth. 

The first thing required of us in following Him who 
is the truth is that we be of the truth. We can never 
become the truth itself, as was the Son of God and 
of man; we cannot become independent sources of 
truth, subsisting in ourselves without God, or co-or- 
dinate with God or God's Son. But we can be of the 
truth, connected with, and drawing from, the everlast- 
ing fountain of truth. And only when we are thus 
of the truth, can we be Christlike in truth and truthful- 
ness. He who is of God heareth God's Word; he who 
is of the truth heareth the voice of the King of truth. 
There is no godliness and Christlikeness apart from 
the truth that came unto men in the Son of man. To 
be of the truth means to be filled with hunger and thirst 
for the truth of God, and to accept and be filled with 
this truth when it offers itself to us. God Himself 
brings the truth to us, to arouse this longing for its 
Sweet enlightenment, its everlasting enrichment. As 
Jesus came with the truth to the Jews and to Pilate to 
win them for the truth, so He conies to us to-day. 

Many reject the truth of salvation as it invites us in 
Jesus. The question of Pilate regarding spiritual 
truth has been repeated only too often. But all they 
who are not of the truth, and hear not the voice of the 
Truth, debar themselves from the highest, purest, and 



If I Have Told You the Truth. 265 

most blessed elements of truth. They are like the 
mole digging away in the dark, busy indeed with his 
delving and the little round of his lightless life, but 
without even an eye for the glorious world above 
ground. The earth is full of such moles, digging and 
prying in every corner with their busy little science, 
but without an eye for the everlasting beauty of truth 
above. Whenever the sunlight of Christ falls in upon 
them in their molehill they inquire with half a sneer, 
What is truth? The longer they live in the dark the 
less they are able to bear and apprehend the light of 
truth. And worst of all, the more they reject and 
ignore the highest truth, the less true are their efforts 
and aims even in the dark little corner they have chosen 
for themselves. Their mathematics may be correct, 
but they will not be true, the whole bearing, aim, and 
purpose of the science will drift from its divine guiding 
center. Their discoveries and observation of facts 
may be very correct and exact, but their generaliza- 
tions and highest deductions will be wide of the designs 
of the true God who formed earth and heaven. An un- 
corrected error in the start vitiates the whole calcula- 
tion and ruins the answer; the vital error of setting 
aside the truth of truths and its embodiment in Christ 
must vitiate not merely all other knowledge, but even 
all effort and all life. He who is not of the truth 
gropes in error and ends in falsehood. 

Christ's statement regarding goodness, namely that 
one only is' good, God alone, may be repeated regard- 
ing truth; one only is true, namely God. And for this 
reason all men are liars, for every one has turned from 
God bv his sin, from Him who alone is true, who is 



266 His Footsteps. 

the only source of truth. But we conclude furthermore 
that they only return unto truth who return unto God,. 
and all who prefer their own folly remain in their lies. 
The question of truth and truthfulness comprises more 
than truthfulness in common conversation. Its first 
and chief part is a true judgment regarding our Maker 
and Savior, regarding our own selves, our real condi- 
tion, God's gracious intentions concerning us, the real 
purpose of our lives, and our everlasting goal. To 
deceive ourselves regarding these things is to miss the 
supreme truth and to fall into the deadliest error. To 
find the truth and live in the truth here places the whole 
man under the influence of divine truth, and all his life 
will be filled with the light of truth. 

There is no communion between light and dark- 
ness, between the truth as it comes to us in Christ and 
the lie as it comes to us in Belial. Indifference re- 
garding the Triune God, and the way of salvation is 
the worst form of falsehood. There can be no tolera- 
tion for unbelief or spiritual error. Christ's great war- 
fare was against the lies that held His nation chained. 
He could not, and we dare not, admit a denial of God 
or of Jesus as the only Savior, or of the only righteous- 
ness and salvation that come to us in Him, or of the 
absolute necessity of regeneration and faith, or of any 
of the divine truths God has revealed to man. There 
is war to the death between the kingdom of light and 
the kingdom of darkness. But this warfare is spiritual, 
not carnal. Persecution of unbelievers, dissenters, 
and heretics is directly opposed to the spirit and ex- 
ample of Him who came to seek and to save, and not 
to kill and destroy. The battle is not with the sword of 



If I Have Told You the Truth. 267 

steel, but with the sword of the Spirit of truth, with the 
everlasting Word of truth against every form of spirit- 
ual error. Unbelief is untrue, and dare never be ad- 
mitted as true; self-righteousness and work-righteous- 
ness is untrue, and must ever be branded and condemn- 
ed as such. To recognize and admit any of the contra- 
dictions of divine truth as revealed in the Word is to 
turn traitor to truth and to surrender to falsehood. 
Religious liberty is the abolishing of all persecution for 
the sake of religious beliefs; it is not a justification of 
religious lies, an admission that such lies are as true as 
the truth, that it makes no difference whether this doc- 
trine or its opposite is believed. Every man is indeed 
free to seek salvation in his own fashion, but the fash- 
ion of error leads unto death, the fashion of truth alone 
leads unto life. The indifference regarding truth and 
error prevalent to-day is the very opposite of Christ's 
example, who in all His ministry rent in twain the net- 
work of error, and set man free from its entanglements 
by the everlasting word of truth. 

The one thing needful for all the followers of Christ 
in the pursuit of truth is uprightness of heart, integrity 
and honesty of the soul. The moral hypocrite can 
never be Christlike. Where this root of evil fills the 
heart truth will forever be blighted. When error is 
held fast with an honest heart, it may be overcome by 
the honesty of truth; but when error and sin is cher- 
ished in a heart insincere and full of hypocrisy, all the 
efforts of truth are in vain. Saul was an honest enemy 
of Christ; when the truth in Christ came to him with 
its power, there was no question at all as to the victory. 
The Pharisees were inveterate hypocrites; as long as 



268 His Footsteps. 

their hypocrisy remained, all the powers of truth could 
not penetrate their souls. He who is dishonest with 
his own soul, even though he seek to> serve the two 
masters, will always be found inwardly on the side of 
falsehood and sin. Woe, therefore, unto those who 
make a pretense of piety, who live on in sin, making 
empty excuses for their wrong, who turn from the truth 
inwardly whenever they feel its power. 

As Christ knew no guile, so every Christlike and 
true heart will be guileless, abominating all the differ- 
ent forms of lying and deception. To tell the truth 
in a Christlike way in all our dealings with men is not 
merely to speak at all times what is so, what is alto- 
gether correct. The world's maxim, Honesty is the 
best policy, is not the Christlike maxim. That maxim 
reads: "Speaking the truth in love." Selfishness 
frequently dictates truthfulness, but such truthfulness 
is not Christlike. Even hatred may prompt man to 
tell the detrimental truth about the person he hates; 
but again this is not Christlike. Self-righteousness, 
worldly morality, philosophic wisdom often induces 
men to speak and act honestly and uprightly before 
men; but even such truthfulness is not Christlike in 
character. To be sure, the honest words of a moral 
man are good when compared with dishonest utter- 
ances and acts. But only when that which induces 
the lips to speak truly is Christlike can the utterance 
be good before God and really Christlike. God ever 
looks to the heart; and only when the love of God in 
Christ Jesus fills the heart, will the words that flow 
from the lips be godly and Christlike indeed. We 
hold fast here the difference that is ever found between 



If I Have Told You the Truth. 269 

the virtues of the world, which are not the fruit of love 
to God, and the virtues of the kingdom of Christ, 
which are rooted and grounded in this love altogether. 
Christlike truth on the lips or in the life is always 
moved and guided by love. Its justice is ever tempered 
with mercy. There are many ways of telling the truth. 
The worst is the loveless way which repels, offends, 
or enrages by the truth it tells. Another evil way is 
that of ignorance, blurting out the truth in a rough 
and helpless way. The Christlike way is that of love, 
with all its gentleness, all its firmness, and all its wis- 
dom. The love that is not of Christ frequently finds 
itself driven to use deception, half-truths, and even 
direct falsehoods to secure its ends. Its plea is the 
old Jesuitic lie, the end justifies the means. But as 
there was no shadow of deception in Jesus, so there 
should not be in us. A lie, even in a half-truth which 
leaves a false impression, is never justified. "Putting 
away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor." 
There is always a way out, some means of deliverance 
when difficult circumstances crowd us. We may be 
silent and suffer ; or tell the truth fearlessly and suffer. 
We may tell it with such healing in the words that it 
will not shock or grieve others to death ; we may utter 
it with such majesty as to cow the evil-minded and 
turn them from their purpose. We may utter it, and 
when its utterance seems to darken every hope, cast 
ourselves upon Him who is able to do more than men. 
However perplexing the circumstances, however sud- 
den and trying the test may be, Christ never forsakes 
those who put their trust in Him. He will rid the 
heart of fear, which leads so many to stain their con- 



270 His Footsteps. 

sciences and ruin their characters; His Spirit will place 
the proper word upon the lips when our human wis- 
dom can make no reply. Luther at the imperial Diet 
at Worms, holding with a true heart to the truth, was 
able to make a good confession. Examples of a simi- 
lar kind, in all circumstances of life, could be readily 
multiplied. 

Truth is ever open and woos the light; evil alone 
bands itself together beneath the cover of darkness. 
The lodge with its secret methods stands condemned 
by the word of Christ: "Every one that doeth evil 
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his 
deeds should be reproved; but he that doeth truth 
cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made mani- 
fest, that they are wrought in God." John 3, 20, etc. 
They who are not of the truth may fail to admit the 
condemnation, nevertheless it is clear. An institution 
founded on secrecy, a system and society veiled in 
darkness cannot be of the light, nor its shrouded prin- 
ciples of the truth. Christ ever works in the light, 
and so do the Christlike; the devil works in the dark, 
and he abode not in the truth. 

Christian truthfulness is bound to suffer. He who 
will not lie for others, or accommodate himself to their 
hypocrisies, will taste their resentment. He who is 
true to himself, and rebukes the falsehood of others, 
will not be loved of those who are false. Only too 
often our own lack of love, our own sinful passion in 
attempting to stand for the truth, will call out the an- 
tagonism of men. Only too often the best of causes 
has been defended with intemperate and inconsiderate 
words. Yet even when nothing but love and purest 



If I Have Told You the Truth. 271 

truth fills our hearts and lips, all men will not be pleased 
with us. The servant is not above his Master. The 
way of truth is not free from affliction. 

Nevertheless, truth always triumphs in the end. The 
children of light who walk in the light, whose hearts 
will reach the crown of everlasting light and truth 
above, are linked to the truth and keep the narrow 
path of truth ; while they who shun the light sink down 
into impenetrable darkness. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN. 

MOXG the bitterest vexations that troubled our 
Lord during His earthly life were those caused 
by "the commandments of men." The way in 
which Christ treated these commandments comprises 
one of the important chapters in His life, and consti- 
tutes a precious part of the pattern He has left us. 

Foremost among the false and dangerous traditions 
of the elders were those relating to the Sabbath. There 
was no practical question which, as far as we are able 
to judge, came up so often, stirred up so much ani- 
mosity, and furnished such a ready pretext for Christ's 
opponents, as this regarding Sabbath observance. The 
spies that dogged the Savior's footsteps, endeavoring 
to find some telling accusation against Him, were con- 
stantly baffled. His life was lit up with such perfect 
purity and love that even malicious eyes could detect 
no real fault or flaw. The scribes and Pharisees would 
gladly have accused Christ of blasphemy for pronounc- 
ing forgiveness upon the sinful woman, upon the man 
sick with the palsy, and upon others; but they found 
their hands tied by the miracles He wrought in proof 
of His authority to forgive sins. Nor could they press 
the accusation, that He was "a glutton and a wine- 
drinker," there being absolutely no foundation for the 



The Commandments of Men. 273 

slander. The matter of fasting likewise would not 
lend itself to their evil purpose. And even Christ's 
receiving publicans and sinners, although horrifying 
the Pharisees utterly, could certainly not be used 
against Him among the common people; they, in fact, 
felt drawn toward Him because He was ever ready to 
help the most lowly, the outcast leper as well as the 
outcast sinner. In all His acts of love there was none 
which, even in the eyes of His opponents, could be 
construed into an excuse for any sin. But the Sab- 
bath question gave them just what they sought. From 
their standpoint the evidence of transgression was 
complete. 

Nevertheless, it was not until from other, deeper 
and more vital, causes the spirit of enmity against 
Christ had arisen, that His practices on the Sabbath 
day produced any disturbance. When Christ first be- 
gan His work in Capernaum, He preached on the 
Sabbath in the synagogue, and before the entire as- 
sembly cleansed a man possessed of an evil spirit. 
Proceeding thence to Simon's house He healed an- 
other patient, Simon's mother-in-law, prostrate with 
fever. To. be sure, the people of the city did not at 
once bring their sick for healing, but waited till sun- 
down, till the twilight hour began another day. Yet 
no one murmured at the two miracles of healing that 
had been wrought openly on the Sabbath day. "They 
were astonished at His doctrine;" "They were all 
amazed, insomuch that they questioned among them- 
selves, saying, What thing is this? What new doc- 
trine is this? for with authority commandeth He even 
the unclean spirits, and they do obey Him." Mark 1, 



274 His Footsteps. 

27. Opposition against Jesus was still in its infancy; 
thus the sensation He created, for -the moment caused 
even the scrupulous Pharisee to overlook what after- 
wards he was only too eager to stigmatize as flagrant 
Sabath desecration. 

The gospels furnish us six detailed instances of ac- 
cusations brought against Jesus for having broken the 
Sabbath. And we must not fail to note the deadly ani- 
mosity with which these accusations were made from 
the start. The first instance'was the healing of the 
paralytic who had suffered for thirty-eight years; 
Christ bade him take up his bed and walk, and as a 
result we are told, "The Jews did persecute Jesus, and 
sought to slay Him, because He had done these things 
on the Sabbath." Again, when Christ, followed by 
the disciples, walked through the fields on the Sabbath 
day, and they began plucking ears of corn, rubbing 
out the grains, and eating, the Pharisees, now ever on 
the watch, make haste to present their indignant pro- 
test: "Behold, Thy disciples do that which is not law- 
ful to do upon the Sabbath day." Immediately after 
this, on the very same day it seems, Christ in the syna- 
gogue healed a man who had a withered hand. "Then 
the Pharisees went out, and held a council against Him, 
how they might destroy Him." A considerable time 
after these two occurrences Jesus, passing by, saw a 
man who had been blind from his birth, and ordered 
him to wash in the pool of Siloam. "Therefore said 
some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because 
He keepeth not the Sabbath day." In the coasts of 
Judaea beyond Jordan Christ found a woman who had 
suffered for eighteen years and was so bowed together 



The Commandments of Men. 275 

that she could not lift herself up. The Master laid 
His hands on her and bade her be loosed from her in- 
firmity. At this the ruler of the synagogue "answered 
with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sab- 
bath day," and said to the people, "There are six days 
in which men ought to work; in them therefore come 
and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." Finally, 
in the house of one of the Pharisees, before a number 
of these fanatics, Christ healed a man of the dropsy. 
The man, as it seems, was placed in the room for this 
very purpose; the Pharisees "watched" Jesus, whether 
He would again break the rules so sacred in their 
eyes. 

In judging Christ's actions on the Jewish Sabbath 
we must remember that He was put under the law to 
redeem them that were under the law. Every Old 
Testament command in regard to the Sabbath was 
therefore binding upon Christ, and He had no thought 
of setting a single one aside; He had come to fulfill all 
righteousness, as He Himself declared. At no time, 
therefore, did Christ transgress any of the command- 
ments of His Father in heaven; and this extends also 
to all the ceremonial regulations of the Mosaic law as 
given by God. As Jesus was circumcised, as He 
faithfully kept the Jewish festivals according to God's 
directions, so also did He comply with every divine 
command respecting the Sabbath. All the watchful 
zeal of the Pharisees was unable to point out a single 
infraction of any real command of God. 

The pharisaic accusations against Christ as a breaker 
of the Sabbath were all based on the traditions of the 
elders. The observance of this day among the. Jews 



276 His Footsteps. 

was no longer regulated by the commandment given 
on Mt. Sinai, but by the multiplicity of human regula- 
tions added by the rabbis. There were no less than 
thirty-nine primary and a whole host of secondary re- 
quirements fencing about the commandment of God, 
and forming a hedge so high and thick as to obscure 
the original divine injunction completely. Schammai 
forbade even the comforting of the sick and the cheer- 
ing of the downcast on this day. To kill a flea on the 
Sabbath was as bad as to slay a camel. To pluck ears 
of grain and to rub out the kernels was the same as 
mowing an entire field and threshing out a whole load 
of wheat. The work of living up to these pharisaic 
regulations was oppressive in the extreme. But their 
worst feature was that they anulled entirely the real 
intention and purpose of God in regard to the Sabbath ; 
for the Pharisees it was no longer a day of blessed rest 
for worshipping God and refreshing their souls, but a 
day for the painful and scrupulous performance of a 
long line of distressing human exactions. They 
imagined that they kept the Sabbath and fulfilled the 
commandment of God, when their attention to this 
wearying mass of outward performances was perfect. 
It was even as Christ declared: "Full well ye reject 
the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own 
tradition — making the Word of God of none effect 
through your tradition, which ye have delivered." 
Mark 7, 9. 

For this very reason it was impossible for Christ to 
assent to the rules of the Pharisees respecting the Sab- 
bath. In fact, He found it necessary to reject openly 
all the traditions of the elders whether they applied to 



The Commandments of Men. 277 

the Sabbath, or to the washing of hands before eating, 
and to "the washing of cups and pots and brazen ves- 
sels and of tables," or to the gifts of children to the 
temple whereby they were released from assisting their 
parents. All these traditions served to foster, or even 
taught directly, what Christ had to condemn: "This 
people honoreth me wih their lips, but their heart is 
far from me." They all turned the worship of God 
into the observance of empty and false commandments 
of men. 

We dare not look at the Jewish Sabbath rules, or 
at their regulations about the washing of hands, as 
only innocent customs of the land and people. The 
Jews themselves regarded their traditions far other- 
wise. If they had been nothing more than local or 
national customs, and if the Pharisees had pressed 
their observance only on this ground, they could never 
have accused Christ of ungodliness, or of a crime 
worthy of death, in refusing compliance with their tra- 
ditions. The vital point, determining the course of 
Christ, was this, that the traditions of the Pharisees 
"made the Word of God of none effect." He was 
bound to obey the "Word of God" at all hazard. And 
if the hatred of the Jews had been multiplied a thou- 
sand times, if their rage had wreaked itself in actions 
a thousand times more fierce and bloody, He would 
never have chosen a different course. 

Christ's treatment of the traditions of the Jews, 
risking without hesitation from beginning to end their 
fiercest animosity on the question of Sabbath observ- 
ance, shows us plainly that Christ always and every- 
where stood for the truth and righteousness of God, 



278 His Footsteps. 

that in no single instance did He, either by silence, 
or by word and act, "accommodate" Himself to any 
of the injurious errors of His day. The worst and 
most unworthy piece of this kind of "accommoda- 
tion" ever latterly imputed to Christ is that in regard 
to the doctrine of the devil. The Jews believed the 
existence of a spirit of evil, whom they called Beelze- 
bub or Satan. This belief now is said to have been 
acquired from Persian sources during the Babylonian 
exile; the Old Testament, we are told, contains no 
foundation for it. Now Christ, without question, 
taught and spoke, as though this master spirit of evil 
existed in reality; the entire New Testament does 
the same. There is never a hint from Jesus' lips to 
show that the ideas of the Jews in this respect were 
essentially false. How could this be possible, we ask, 
if Christ knew that these ideas were false? The an- 
swer we receive is that He simply avoided exposing 
this error, that He for certain reasons "accommo- 
dated" Himself to this Jewish notion. We recoil 
from the very thought; we cannot conceive of such 
hypocrisy on Christ's part. There is a devil; the 
Old Testament Scriptures tell us so; the Jews were 
not mistaken; this doctrine is no Persian or heathen 
fable; Christ spoke truth when He referred to Satan 
as a real person. Furthermore, it is altogether 
against reason that He who rejected the tradition of 
the elders respecting the Sabbath, washings, and a 
host of other matters, should have acquiesced in the 
Jewish doctrine respecting the devil — if this had 
been false. He who declared: "In vain do they 
worship me, teaching for doctrines the command- 



The Comma?idments of Men. 279 

ments of men", would likewise have declared regard- 
ing any Persian fable held falsely as the truth of God: 
"In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines 
the fables of men." There is no trace whatever in 
the life of our sinless Master of any "accommodation" 
to falsehood or wrong. No matter how much men 
might be offended by truth and righteousness, Christ 
maintained both, and bore the brunt of the offense in 
every case. 

Nevertheless, we cannot deny that to a certain ex- 
tent Christ did accommodate Himself to His sur- 
roundings. The commandments of men did not al- 
ways militate against the word of God; the customs, 
habits, and practices of the Jews were in many cases 
harmless, and Christ freely adopted them. He dressed 
as did those about Him; He ate the same food as 
they did; He worked at Joseph's trade and rested at 
the home of His friends in Bethany. But He re- 
buked the vanity of "broad prylacteries" worn by 
the Pharisees, their trumpeting forth of their charities, 
their ostentatious prayers on the street corners, their 
straining at gnats in the water they drank. He sub- 
mitted to the government of His native land and to 
its proper laws. He raised no objections to the com- 
mon usages and customs in vogue at the celebration 
of the great Jewish festivals. He took part freely in 
the services in the Jewish synagogues as these had 
been arranged by men throughout the land, accom- 
modating Himself, as we may say, to their manner 
of reading the Scriptures, to their form of prayer, 
and to a long line of minor practices. Wherever 



280 His Footsteps. 

there was no conflict with the word and will of God 
Christ allowed the commandments of men to pass. 

Where there was such a conflict Christ always en- 
tered the battle and employed every means for ex- 
posing and contradicting the evil. Thus in regard 
to the Sabbath. Did an ox or an ass belonging to 
one of the Pharisees fall into a pit on the Sabbath, 
and did they not straightway pull him out? Why 
then should Christ be prevented from rescuing a man 
who had fallen into the disease of leprosy? What man, 
having a sheep fallen into a pit on the Sabbath, did 
not at once lay hold on it and lift it out? Shall a 
sheep be accounted as more valuable than a man? 
Shall more be done for a brute than for a man on the 
Sabbath day? Did not each one without hesitation 
loose his ox or ass from the stall on the Sabbath and 
lead him away to watering? Why then should Christ 
' be forbidden to loose a daughter of Israel, bound 
these eighteen years, and lead her to healing on the 
Sabbath? The argument was unanswerable; the ref- 
utation of the Pharisees complete. 

The second argument of Christ went deeper. The 
Pharisees were vanquished by their own practices; 
doing what they did for their own animals, they could 
not object to Christ's doing the same thing for the 
noblest creatures of God. But what the Pharisees 
themselves did was altogether right. There was only 
one true answer to Christ's question, 'Ts it lawful to 
do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save 
life, or to kill?" In other words, "to heal on the 
Sabbath days", or to leave men needlessly to the de- 
structive ravages of disease? The Sabbath was made 



The Commandments of Men. 281 

for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Among the 
services of God whereby men may worship Him ac- 
ceptably on the Sabbath are also the visiting of the 
widow and orphan, the helping of the suffering and 
distressed. Not that the Sabbath should be converted 
by such works of mercy into a day of excessive labor, 
so that all other services would be excluded. Christ's 
words and acts cannot be used for justifying such ex- 
tremes. His work of healing never drew Him away 
from the worship in the synagogue on the Sabbath. 
He never declared that the Sabbath was the great day 
for working cures or bringing relief. When occasion 
offered He healed the sick on the Sabbath, never or- 
dering the multitude of sufferers to abandon their 
practice of coming to Him on other days. One ex- 
treme would have been as bad as the other; forbid- 
ding all works of mercy on the Sabbath, as bad as 
overloading the Sabbath by commanding all works 
of mercy for this day alone. Among the many ser- 
vices which please God, "doing good" as Christ did 
is one; this one has its claims on the Sabbath, but 
this one does not usurp the place of the others. 

In addition to these principles and elucidations 
Christ used another powerful line of reasoning. When 
His disciples were accused for violating the Sabbath 
because they plucked and rubbed out ears of corn, 
Christ referred the Pharisees to David. Did not he 
and those with him, when hungry, entered the sacred 
house of God and eat the shewbread, which according 
to God's own law only the priests dared eat? And 
yet he was held guiltless. The point of the compari- 
son is found in the inner purpose and intention of 



282 His Foot slips. 

God's commandments. They were not meant to hurt 
or destroy man. but to help him. The regulations 
regarding the shewbread came from God Himself, 
they were part of the ceremonial law established un- 
der Moses. But even these regulations, when man's 
welfare demanded, could be set aside for a time at the 
imperative call of necessity; how much more then 
the traditions of the elders, mere human rules, re- 
specting the Sabbath? Or did the Pharisees claim 
more for their injunctions than God claimed for His? 
But here, too, we must be careful not to draw unwar- 
ranted conclusions. Ceremonial regulations, rules 
for certain times, places, or persons, are not to be 
confounded with the everlasting principles of truth 
and righteousness. Under pressure of necessity 
David could be guiltless in setting aside the law con- 
cerning shewbread, but no necessity would have left 
him guiltless if he had set aside the law concerning 
lying or theft or murder. It is always absolutely 
necessary to obey the moral law of God. But on 
this very point the Pharisees were lamentably at 
fault. Christ rebukes them: "If ye had known what 
this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, 
ye would not have condemned the guiltless." There 
was no mercy in the heart of these foes of Christ; 
their hatred was glad to find what they imagined a 
grave transgression of the law. Could God accept 
their hollow Sabbath observance, when they cared 
nothing whatever about the essentials of love, charity, 
and judgment? These dare never be set aside or for- 
gotten. 



The Commandments of Men. 283 

This brings us to one of the main reasons why 
Christ rejected the Jewish traditions, not only in re- 
gard to the Sabbath, but also in regard to everything 
else. These traditions were all of a kind, setting up 
human notions ostensibly as an aid to the keeping 
of God's commandments, but in reality making these 
commandments of none effect. They put lip service 
in the place of heart service; outward forms in the 
place of inward realities. A striking example is fur- 
nished by the divine commandment, "Honor thy fa- 
ther and thy mother", and by the duty of helping 
father and mother, plainly included in this command- 
ment. The Pharisees simply annulled this command- 
ment of God, absolving children from doing anything 
for their parents, if they declared regarding certain 
money or goods, "It is Corban", that is, a gift for 
the temple. In the same way the washing of hands 
and the cleansing of pots and vessels was observed by 
the Pharisees with painful scrupulosity, while their" 
hearts were calmly allowed to be full of hatred, 
malice, lying, theft, and murder. They sought 
their sanctity in such outward washings, treating 
these as sufficient without inward purity of heart- 
Well did Christ declare unto them: "Ye are like unto 
whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful out- 
ward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of 
all uncleanness." Christ could not receive or keep 
traditions of men militating so completely against the 
law of ( rod. 

Finally, Christ points the Pharisees to an excep- 
tion made by God Himself in regard to labor on the 
Sabbath day stating at the same time a far-reaching 



284 His Footsteps. 

principle. "Have ye not read in the law, how that 
on the Sabbath days the priests in. the temple profane 
the Sabbath, and are blameless?" The work of pre- 
paring the sacrifices, the slaughtering- of animals, the 
feeding of fires, and other labors went on in the 
Temple itself and by the very priests of God. And 
this at the command of God's own law. Had the 
Pharisees ever considered this problem? How could 
God forbid labor and yet also command it on the 
Sabbath? Because this labor was essential to the 
Jews for the proper observance of the Sabbath. The 
priests were bidden to do certain works that the na- 
tion might worship God acceptably on the Sabbath. 
If then the law of the Temple could make such excep- 
tions, it was plain that this law itself was not abso- 
lute. He who had made it for a certain time and peo- 
ple could alter and abrogate it. As Christ had told 
the woman at the well: "The hour cometh when ye 
shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem 
worship the Father", so He declared to the Pharisees: 
"I say unto you, That in this place is one greater 
than the Temple." And again: "The Son of man is 
Lord even of the Sabbath day." Christ had power to 
change or annul the Sabbath laws, as God in first 
making them had power to make exceptions. As yet 
the hour was not completely come. Christ Himself 
was still under the law and employed in fulfilling it, 
nevertheless He was the Lord of the Temple and of 
the Sabbath. His knowledge and practice, as well 
as His power and authority, was perfect. Christ in- 
deed gave no new command concerning a day to be 
kept by His followers. The liberty wherewith He 



The Commandments of Men. 285 

made us free would soon enough remove the old yoke 
of bondage and find proper regulations for rendering 
to God the worship in spirit and in truth. 

The example thus set for us to follow in regard to 
the commandments of men is not difficult of applica- 
tion. The "Word of God must ever stand supreme, 
and every human command or injunction at variance 
with this word must be rejected. In the words of 
Peter, we must obey God rather than men. As long 
as the laws and traditions of men do not militate 
against the word and will of God, even though they 
be imperfect, we may let them pass. The spirit of 
brotherly love will shrink from giving offense by set- 
ting itself wilfully and needlessly at variance with 
others. 

Human commandments are especially pernicious, 
and call for rejection, when men claim for them an 
authority equal to the divine, or seek to enforce them 
as though they were divine. Where God has not 
bound the conscience, it is sin for man to bind it. 
We are enjoined to stand in the liberty wherewith 
Christ has made us free, and not to be entangled 
again with the yoke of bondage. We are to let no 
man judge us in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a 
holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days 
— after the commandments and doctrines of men. 

The usurpation of temporal authority by the pa- 
pacy, demanding allegiance and obedience from men; 
the similar usurpation of divine prerogatives in the 
spiritual domain, demanding faith and submission on 
the part of Christian people: and all the separate 
commands based on this fraudulent authority, such as 



286 His Footsteps 

the enforced celibacy of the priesthood, the infalli- 
bility of the pope, the indulgences, fasts, etc., are con- 
trary to the Word of God, and must be spurned by 
those who follow Christ. Here again the doctrines 
of men render the Word of God of none effect. Here 
again men are taught to rely on a show of outward 
works, whilst the essential matters of faith and the 
true fruits of faith are set aside. 

When the Baptists prescribe immersion as the only 
valid form of Baptism; when the Reformed forbid 
the use of any but common bread in Communion, 
they are teaching for doctrines the commandments of 
men. When so many in the interest of temperance 
seek to make us believe that God Himself prohibits 
all intoxicating drinks, they are binding the con- 
science where God left it free. There are reasons 
enough for shunning the deadly dangers of drink 
without adding such as have no warrant. When 
Puritanic legalists attempt to prescribe the observ- 
ance of Sunday as a divine command; likewise, when 
certain fanatics demand a return to the Jewish law 
and the observance of Saturday as the only legitimate 
holy day — we must refuse to admit their demands. 
"We should fear and love God, that we may not de- 
spise preaching and His Word, but gladly hear and 
learn it." This now is in effect God's commandment 
for us. It goes without saving, that the spirit of or- 
der and reverence, ever ready to learn from the wise 
regulations of God in olden times, will see the neces- 
sity of having a fixed day, and even fixed hours and 
fixed forms, for the proper hearing of the Word and 
the worship of God. But God has not bound us; 



The Commandments of Men. 287 

He has left us unimpaired the liberty of our Lord in 
making the first day of the week the Lord's day, and 
in rendering- to our Lord in the freedom of the Spirit 
the worship wherein He delights. 

At all times when presumptuous fanaticism comes 
with the imperative, You must, we are bound to as- 
sert our liberty and declare, We will not; where de- 
votion to Christ comes with an appeal to our love, 
we are bound to lend a ready ear and to reply, I will 
do my utmost. Paul was ready to become all things 
to all men, if perhaps he might save some; but when 
certain errorists attempted to bind him and those 
whom he had won for Christ, to the Jewish rite of 
circumcision, and to other injunctions of Jewish law, 
he asserted all his apostolic authority and would not 
for a moment permit his conscience to be bound by 
the commandments of men. When Luther at Worms 
confronted the imperial demand to retract in bulk 
what he had written, he declared his conscience bound 
by the Word of God, nor would he yield one jot to 
this human injunction, however powerful in its im- 
perial authority, unless it could prove itself in con- 
formity with the Word of God. His words: "Here 
I stand; I cannot do otherwise — God help me!" 
have come to mark an epoch in the history of relig- 
ious liberty. Consequences count for nothing in the 
face of divine commands; God always takes care of 
these consequences. But when we yield to men in 
disobedience to God for fear of apparently painful 
consequences, we shall not escape the most painful of 
all, the dire displeasure of God. 



288 His Footsteps. 

For us there will always be one danger. We may 
be mistaken in taking some command or doctrine to 
be divine, or in looking upon another as merely hu- 
man. Before we take our course, this vital question 
must be settled beyond a reasonable doubt. And it 
can be settled in every instance, for the Word of God 
is clear, giving knowledge to the soul, and enlighten- 
ing the eyes. 

As long as the world stands we will be called upon 
to reject the commandments of men for the instruc- 
tions of God, and to test our conduct daily and 
hourly by the divine principles set down for our en- 
lightenment and guidance. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

WHY ARE YE FEARFUL? 

THE absolute fearlessness of Jesus asks us re- 
proachfully: "Why are ye fearful, O ye of 
little faith?" and bids us courageously: "Fear 
not", — "be not afraid!" 

The life of Christ is a record of invincible courage 
and supreme fearlessness. And there is that in the 
dauntless manliness of Christ which is far above the 
exhibitions of courage not infrequent among men. 
Moreover, the courage of Christ is of such a nature 
as to be repeated and wrought in us also, even in the 
most timid and fearful of human hearts. Common 
bravery, boldness, and daring, even when inspired by 
a noble sense of duty, is generally such as to fire only 
those who naturally have something of the same 
quality and temperament in themselves; the fearless- 
ness of Christ alone can implant itself in the hearts of 
the most timid and shrinking, and give them a bold- 
ness as far above mere natural courage as the spiritual 
is above the fleshly. 

The calm, unruffled courage of Christ comes into 
view gloriously in the storm on the Lake of Galilee. 
After a day of weary labor Jesus and His disciples 
embark to cross the quiet waters. There is no trace 
of any approaching tempest. The waves ripple mer- 



290 His Footsteps. 

rily about the boat, the wind hums low and sweet, 
and the disciples sit together in quiet converse, while 
the boat glides smoothly on. We can explain their 
calmness at the start; they knew nothing of what 
awaited them. But Christ was equally and even 
more calm and restful than they, and yet He knew all 
that would befall them. In the face of the raging 
tempest whose coming Christ saw, He composed 
Himself to sleep on a pillow in the rear of the boat. 
The storm had no terrors for Him. He rested like 
.a weary child in its mother's soft arms. With the 
roaring wind coming ever nearer and nearer Christ's 
eyes closed, and He slept the perfect quiet sleep of 
one who lies down peacefully in his own bed at night. 
.No shadow of fear crossed His thoughts or kept His 
•eyes open for a moment. There was absolutely no 
fear in His soul. And even when the fun- of the blast 
.descended, when the ship's danger grew frightfully, 
when the deep yawned to swallow it up, and the storm 
shrieked to plunge it down, when the disciples with 
all their fisherman skill gave themselves up for lost, 
even then Christ slept on. And when He opened His 
eyes and heard the despairing cry, "Master, Master!" 
and beheld the awful scene about Him, there is no 
trace of even surprise, to say nothing of dismay. 
Jesus opened His eyes on the dread danger as calmly 
and undisturbed as an innocent child after a peaceful 
night's rest opens its eyes on the familiar scene in its 
little chamber. It is not that in any way Jesus was 
ignorant of the real danger that threatened the boat 
and its passengers: on the contrary, we would say 
.that He knew the danger far better than did the dis- 



Why Are Ye Fearful? '291 

ciples themselves. As His knowledge transcended 
Peter's when the draught of fishes was made, so also 
here. But when we say that Christ knew the real 
danger, and yet feared not, we have only stated half 
of what He knew. The other half we will consider 
presently. 

Even as here sketched it is not hard to see that no 
mere natural courage of man has ever equalled this 
wonderful calmness of the Son of man on the Gali- 
leean lake. The knowledge of the approach of such 
a tempest, though it might not strike fear into a heart 
of great natural courage, would at least keep the eyes 
awake and move the hands to get everything in the 
boat in readiness for the coming shock. The sudden 
awakening from the unconsciousness of sleep and the 
instantaneous perception of the danger of the boat 
would for an instant at least disturb the quiet even of 
the bravest man on earth. It is impossible for the 
greatest natural courage of man to equal the display 
of absolute fearlessness here given by the divine 
Master. 

But this surpassing courage filled the heart of 
Christ constantly, and shone forth on a thousand dif- 
ferent occasions. He stands again and again abso- 
lutely alone and without human aid in the midst of 
His blood-thirsty enemies. He sees them all about 
Him with stones in hand, ready to hurl them upon 
Him in sudden frenzy like the bursting of a storm. 
But His tone never changes, no shadow even of un- 
certainty flits through His thoughts. Not one word 
passes His lips in modification of any of His severe 
utterances. On the contrary, in the face of the rage 



292 His Footsteps. 

of His foes He adds the very word which must set 
that rage ablaze. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, be- 
fore Abraham was I am." And while their fury is 
no longer able to contain itself, He walks calmly, 
without a sign of fear or hesitation, through their 
very midst. 

A marvellous scene illustrating the same fearless- 
ness occurred in the house of one of the Pharisees 
whither Jesus had been invited to dine. He went to 
table without first washing His hands. And when 
all was ready for the meal, and the Pharisees mar- 
velled at His thus openly setting aside their com- 
mandment, He, far from any attempt at excusing 
Himself or at pacifying their resentment with capti- 
vating speech, rebukes and chides their falseness 
openly and fearlessly. "Now do ye Pharisees make 
clean the outside of the cup and platter; but your in- 
ward part is ravening and wickedness." Like a knife- 
thrust into festering flesh these words of cutting truth 
pierced the hearts of the men on either side. With 
calmness undisturbed the Lord proceeds, and each 
word strikes more deeply and burns more hotly. "But 
woe unto you Pharisees ! for ye tithe mint and rue and 
all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the 
love of God : these ought ye to have done, and not to 
leave the other undone. Woe unto you, Pharisees! 
for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, 
and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes 
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which 
appear not, and the men that walk over them are not 
aware of them." We can imagine the effect of these 
words upon a company of Pharisees already filled 



Why Are Ye Fearful? 293 

with bitter hate against this guest in their midst. But 
Christ is not carried away by any excitement, His 
every word is weighed and measured and calm. He 
knew what He was saying, and why He was saying 
this and nothing else. 

Then one of the lawyers answered: "Master, thus 
saying Thou reproachest us also." The remark only 
served to invite further rebuke, for the lawyers were 
in the same condemnation. "Woe unto you also, ye 
lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be 
borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burden with 
one of your fingers. Woe unto you ! for ye build the 
sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed 
them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds 
of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and ye 
build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wis- 
dom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, 
and some of them they shall slay and persecute: that 
the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from 
the foundation of the world, may be required of this 
generation; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of 
Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the 
temple. Verily, I say unto you, it shall be required 
of this generation. Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye 
have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered 
not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye 
hindered." No wonder that we are told, the scribes 
and Pharisees were fearfully aroused at these words, 
and began to surround and press in upon- Jesus with 
hot and vehement words. But not one jot or tittle of 
the open and necessary truth Jesus had uttered did 
He retract or modify. Going out from the enraged 



294 His Footsteps. 

company He began to preach to the multitude: '"Be- 
ware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hy- 
pocrisy." "And I say unto you, my friends, Be not 
afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have 
no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you 
whom ye shall fear: Fear Him which after He hath 
killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto 
you. Fear Him." And Christ Himself, in His entire 
treatment of those who already planned to kill Him, 
was the embodiment of the fearlessness which He 
preached. 

The twofold cleansing of the temple reveals the 
same fearlessness. The first took place when Christ 
began His ministry. He had hardly any followers as 
yet. This, so far as we know, was His first public ap- 
pearance in Jerusalem. He came without possessing 
any recognized authority. And He introduced Himself 
by driving out single-handed the whole crowd of them 
that sold sheep and oxen in the temple courts, and 
poured out the changers' money and overthrew their 
tables. The act was a clear condemnation of the 
authorities who had given their permission to this 
shameful business. It seems almost impossible that 
Jesus should have been able to perform such a deed. 
It seems so to us, only because our courage is not 
equal to the deed. 

The second cleansing of the temple occurred after 
the glorious entry on Palm Sunday. Then the doom 
of Jesus was already sealed, the hate of the Jewish 
rulers had become implacable and ineradicable. But 
Testis feared them not. 



Why Are Ye Fearful? 295 

Again, when the number of His followers had in- 
creased greatly, and enthusiasm for Jesus as the Mes- 
siah ran high, He made no attempt whatever at util- 
izing the support of the multitude in behalf of His 
cause. They w^ere ready to proclaim Him their king 
and to bear Him in triumph to Jerusalem. The dis- 
ciples would have encouraged and accommodated 
themselves to the favorable temper of the people. 
But Christ saw only how far they had missed His true 
aim and purpose. He proceeds at once to disenchant 
them. He fears not to turn them all away, and to 
walk on and work on unsupported and alone. His 
sermon on the Bread of Life caused many to leave 
Him, saying: "This is a hard saying; who can hear 
it?" And even the disciples murmured, so that Christ 
asked them: "Doth this offend you?" Where others 
would have feared to lose favor Christ feared not; 
where others would have tempered and trained their 
words, so as to retain the influence obtained, Christ 
speaks the everlasting truth, and crushes all false 
hopes and aspirations, however fair and flattering 
they seem. Though every human support fall aside, 
He is undismayed; His courage has deeper founda- 
tion. 

This is the course Christ followed fearlessly to the 
end. There were some outbursts of popular enthusi- 
asm in His favor, but with a courageous hand He 
quietly puts them down as they arise. He preaches 
the same everlasting truth, though His enemies in- 
crease, His friends turn away, and even His followers 
become bewildered. And the climax of that preach- 
ing was the announcement, almost incredible to those 



296 His Footsteps. 

who heard it, of His own shameful death. At first 
the disciples could not admit the literal sense of the 
words. Then Peter took Christ aside and urged 
Him: "Be it far from Thee, Lord; this shall not be 
unto Thee." But Christ's strong hand brushed 
Peter's timid counsel aside. While the mere thought 
of such a death struck terror to their hearts, Christ 
went on unflinchingly into its very jaws. Pie was 
aware of all the agonies awaiting Him in Jerusalem, 
even as He had foreseen the fury of the storm on the 
lake; His pure and tender heart anticipated every 
pang as our dulled and darkened hearts can never 
anticipate coming pain — yet He never wavered for 
■an instant. And though sorrows at last overwhelmed 
His soul, and His poor body could hardly stand the 
stupendous strain of the sacrifice, when the traitor 
and his helpers appeared at the gate of Gethesmane, 
Christ was ready and by an unexampled act of cour- 
age gave Himself into the tortures and death they 
would prepare for Him. And during all those heart- 
rending last hours before the Highpriest, Pilate, 
Herod, and on the cross never a murmur passed His 
lips. Like a lamb led to the slaughter He opened not 
His mouth ; like an invincible rock His courage stood 
to the last. While at any moment one word or mo- 
tion would have called down to His rescue all the 
omnipotence of God, He moved neither hand nor 
tongue. His everlasting fortitude could not be over- 
come. 

To understand this fearless fortitude and courage of 
Jesus, our example, it is necessary to look beneath the 
surface and to uncover the hidden foundation whereon 



Why Are Ye Fearful? 297 

it rested. A close examination of the outward mani- 
festation of His unparalleled courage already shows 
striking and profound differences between the com- 
mon, natural courage of even the bravest and no- 
blest of men and the spiritual, divine courage 
of Christ. These differences increase and finally ex- 
hibit themselves to be vital, when we look into the 
inner life and heart of Christ and see there the well- 
spring of His fortitude. 

Christ and the Father are one; Jesus was the eternal 
Son of God. And though He walked on earth in the 
form of man, His essential unity with the Father was 
a constant reality. And Christ ever knew Himself to 
be one with the Father. He had come to do that 
Father's will in working out our salvation; and the 
constant assurance of the Father's pleasure in His Son 
and Servant accompanied Christ through His entire 
life. This assurance included the perfect certainty of 
the divine guidance and protection at every step. 
Nothing in heaven or earth or hell could harm Him 
whom the Father had sent. Whatever suffering 
touched Christ came upon Him only as sent or per- 
mitted by the Father's will; came upon Him only be- 
cause Christ Himself willed it and gave Himself into 
it. And here we have the true source of His calm for- 
titude and of His absolute lack of fear. 

The God-man was ever absolutely sure of His heav- 
enly Father, and therefore He was ever absolutely sure 
of everything else. There was no such thing as an 
evil or untoward chance in all His life. Nothing of its 
own will or determination could come upon Him or 
interfere in any way with His work. Hell might rage, 



298 His Footsteps. 

but all its fury was vain and impotent; Christ feared it 
not. Men might turn against the Son of man and 
plot and plan His destruction, all their hatred was held 
in the bridle of omnipotence, and would be let loose 
only when it pleased the Father and when the Son 
was ready; He feared it not. Nature might burst out 
in an uproar, the wind and waves unite in furious tu- 
mult, the Father held both in the hollow of His hand, 
and Christ could lie down calmly to sleep. Being ever 
in perfect harmony with the Father, there was noth- 
ing whatever for Jesus to fear; being ever perfectly 
conscious of this harmony and all it contained, no 
shadow of actual fear or uneasiness disturbed the heart 
of Jesus. This is at once the perfect explanation and 
the distinctive peculiarly of Christ's fearlessness. 

And it is for us to follow in His footsteps, as many 
an admonition from His own lips shows us; and by 
His Spirit's help we can indeed overcome fear and 
timidity, and learn something of the spiritual courage 
that shines so gloriously in the heroes of Christian 
history. 

"Be not afraid, only believe!" This word of Christ 
to Jairus, when his heart was rent with doubt and sor- 
row, opens for us the fountain of true courage. "Fear 
not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure 
to give you the kingdom." Here again we touch the 
same well-spring of Christlike fearlessness. When 
the passion of Christ approached, and the disciples 
were troubled, Christ directed them to the everlasting- 
source of Christian fortitude: "Peace I leave with 
you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth 



Why Are Ye Fearful? 299 

give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, 
neither let it be afraid." 

What is this hidden fountain of fearlessness for 
Christ's followers? It is the sum of His everlasting 
promises; the more they accept and trust in these and 
hold fast to them by faith, the more their hearts will 
be filled with Christlike courage. Why should Jairus 
fear to lose his daughter, when Christ had consented 
to save her life? To be sure, as long as he doubted 
Christ's power or willingness, fear would crush his 
heart. The moment he believed fully the promise of 
Christ, all appearances counted for nothing, and fear 
was gone. Why should the little flock of believers 
be afraid of perishing? They have their Father's 
promise of the kingdom; they can fear and be wor- 
ried and distressed only as long as they doubt; the 
moment they believe that promise fully, they may 
laugh at fear. Why should the disciples be troubled 
and afraid at Christ's leaving them? They had His 
sure promise of His resurrection, of His glorification 
and exaltation; He gave them His peace, accepted 
them as His own, whom He would lead into the ever- 
lasting city of peace. They could fear only as long 
as they failed to understand His promises, or as long as 
they gave way to doubt. The full assurance of faith 
was bound to produce an invincible courage in their 
hearts. 

As Christ and the Father were one essentially; so we 
and Christ together with the Father and the Spirit are 
one through the adoption of God's grace. As the Son 
of man in all His earthly life rested with serene assur- 
ance in His oneness with the Father; so we should rest 



300 His Footsteps. 

with the serene assurance of faith in the grace and 
promises of Christ. Then will fear go out, and calm- 
ness and courage and abiding joy enter in. \\ nat if 
the elements of nature, or the fury of earthly foes, or 
the machinations of the evil one rise up against us — 
faith keeps its eye fixed on high. Xo man shall pluck 
us out of the hand of Christ; no creature shall sepa- 
rate us from the love of God; all things must work 
together for good to them that love God and are His. 
With David we may exclaim: "I will not be afraid of 
ten thousands of people, that have set themselves 
against me round about." Ps. 3, 6. "Yea, though I 
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, T will 
fear no evil: for Thou are with me; Thy rod and Thy 
staff they comfort me." Ps. 23, 4. "The Lord is my 
light and my salvation ; whom shall I fear? The Lord 
is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 
Though a host should encamp against me, my heart 
shall not fear." Ps. 27, 1. 3. "God is our refuge and 
strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore 
will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and 
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the 
sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, 
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof-. 
Selah." Ps. 40, 1. 3. The letter to the Hebrews assures 
us: "We may boldly say. The Lord is my helper, and 
I will not fear what man shall do unto> me." And Pe- 
ter writes: "Be not afraid of their terror, neither be 
troubled." And Christ Himself bade the church at 
Smyrna: "Fear none of those things which thou shalt 
suffer." Rev. 2, 10. 



Why Are Ye Fearful f 301 

There is no cause for the true Christian to fear, as 
there was no cause for Christ to fear; therefore the 
Christian may be fearless as was Christ. The believer 
fears only when he forgets his faith and gives his heart 
over to doubt. "O ye of little faith, why are ye fear- 
ful?" As long as Peter believed, the water beneath 
his feet was solid; the moment he doubted, his feet 
sank. Discouragements, misfortunes, dangers, trou- 
bles, sickness, and the ills of life of whatever kind 
trouble and harrass us with fear, only when our faith 
droops or goes out. Faith is the victory which over- 
cometh the world. In other words, the fear of God is 
the death of all other fear and the birth of Christlike 
courage. 

The fear of God, however, necessarily includes true 
obedience to God. Christ never deviated from the 
Fathers' will, and therefore the Father's protection 
was ever about Him. The believer who would be fear- 
less as was Christ must not follow the perverse guid- 
ance of his own will, or of that of the world and the 
devil. God's promises protect us only when we follow 
God's ways and do His work. With God we may face 
the antagonism of all the world and remain fearless, 
confident, joyful. The moment we follow our own 
fleshly ambition, give way to our evil lusts, seek the 
gratification of our selfishness, we step out from under 
the shield of God's protecting promises, and become a 
prey to doubt and fear. Therefore, the follower of 
Christ's footsteps will ever keep carefully to the coun- 
sel of God's testimonies, and pray constantly for God's 
guidance and direction. Christlike fearlessness is 



302 His Footsteps. 

wrought by the Word of God, and developed by the 
spirit of prayer. 

This fearlessness differs vitally from the mere 
natural courage so much admired among men. The 
backbone of Christlike courage is trust in Christ and 
His Word ; that of natural courage is reliance on man's 
own prowess and strength, or the simple disregard of 
danger and of threatening harm. The Christian's fear 
dies, because he sees God removing the cause of fear 
for him; the worldling's fear goes out, because he 
stiffens and hardens his heart against the emotion of 
fear, while the cause of fear still remains. Those who 
are naturally timid will not be able to overcome their 
inclination to fear by any of the help nature may have 
to offer; education and training may do a little, but 
never enough. The most shrinking and timid can be 
rendered completely fearless by being filled with the 
faith which renews the heart and expels all fear. 

Examples of the fearlessness of faith abound. Heb. 
11 gives us a description of fearless Christian heroes: 
"Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought 
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths 
of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the 
edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, 
waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of 
the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life 
again; and others were tortured, not accepting deliv- 
erance, that they might obtain a better resurrection: 
and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourg- 
ings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonments: they 
were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, 
were slain with the sword: thev wandered about in 



Why Are Ye Fearful f 803 

sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, 
tormented; of whom the world was not worthy: they 
wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens 
and caves of the earth." 

The disciples had their doors locked at first for fear 
of the Jews; but when their hearts were fully estab- 
lished, they went forth boldly and knew no fear, how- 
ever the Sanhedrin might threaten. Women and even 
children among the early martyrs were not discouraged 
or cowed by the most hideous threats of torture. Lu- 
ther feared not to enter Worms and stand before kings 
and princes, though all the tiles on the roofs should 
be devils gaping to devour him. 

Fear shall take hold of all the wicked at last, though 
now they boast with great show of courage and hide 
or hush the fearful accuser in their breast. But the 
fortitude and fearlessness of Christ's followers shall 
ever increase. And though at times their courage 
sinks, their prayers will soon dispel their doubts, for 
Christ hastens to their relief. 

Jesus Christ, we cry to Thee : 

Come to us out ou the sea ! 

Storm and tide have wrecked our sail; 

Helpless now the howling gale 

Drives our craft and drowns our wail. 

Hear us, Christ, we cry to Thee : 

Aid us in our jeopardy ! 

Jesus Christ, we cling to Thee: 
Bide with us out on the sea ! 
All our skill and might is vain ; 
Thou alone hast power to rein 
Raging storm and roaring main. 
Hear us, Christ, we cling to Thee ; 
Bide with us in jeoparrh ! 



304 His Footsteps. 

Jesus Christ, we trust in Thee: 
Bring us home across the sea! 
Yonder gleams the golden shore ; 
Guide the helm, direct the oar, 
Leave, O leave us nevermore. 
Hear us, Christ, we trust in Thee : 
Save us from our jeopardy! 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

TELL NO MAN. 

THE counterpart and complement of Christ's fear- 
lessness is His perfect prudence, an example 
for us to follow. 

The fearless man is liable to be over-bold, daring, 
reckless, and foolhardy, just as the fearful man is in 
danger of becoming cowardly, over-careful, over- 
cautious, and anxious. But the perfect virtues of the 
God-man never degenerate into corresponding faults. 
Though absolutely fearless there is no recklessness, 
no braggadocio', no< temerity in the heart or actions of 
Jesus. His fearlessness is in perfect balance with His 
prudence and discretion. 

The prudence of Jesus manifested itself especially 
in two lines of action. He cautiously commissioned 
the proclamation of His work and aims to men espec- 
ially called, and prepared; He prudently evaded the 
final conflict with His enemies until the fixed time for 
the end drew nigh. 

One of the first great miracles was that performed 
in the crowded synagogue in Capernaum upon a man 
possessed by an unclean spirit. This spirit knew 
Jesus and shouted aloud: "I know Thee who Thou 
art; the Holy One of Israel." Christ commanded the 
spirit tO' hold his peace, He desired no devil to proclaim 



306 His Footsteps. 

Him as the Messiah. On the same day and in the same 
city He healed many possessed persons. Invariably 
the evil spirits desired to tell who Jesus was: "Thou 
art Christ, the Son of God." But Jesus "suffered 
them not to speak, for they knew that He was Christ." 

A few days later, near the sea, the same attempt of 
the spirits was repeated, but again Jesus straitly 
charged them not to make riim known. Their speak- 
ing could only interfere with His plans. Jesus could 
have no communion whatever with the devils, whose 
works He had come to destroy. To-day men seek 
the voice of spirits and follow their ostensible biddings. 
Such people evidently have not the Spirit of Christ. 

In the early part of Christ's ministry we find Him 
forbidding almost every person whom He healed of 
any affliction to make any open announcement in re- 
gard to the miracle itself or to Him who had wrought 
it. A leper had his prayer heard, "Lord, if Thou wilt 
Thou canst make me clean." Jesus dismissed him 
with the injunction: "See thou say nothing to any 
man, but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest." And 
in this case we see the necessity for this prudent com- 
mand. The man disregarded Christ's word and "pub- 
lished much and blazed abroad" what Jesus had done, 
so that He "could no more openly enter into the city, 
but was without in desert places." 

The parents of the little daughter called back to life 
by Jesus in Capernaum were bidden to "tell no man 
what was done." The two blind men who followed 
Jesus into the house and were healed received the same 
stringent command: "See that no man know it, And 
these two again disobeyed. The deaf and dumb man 



Tell no Man. 307 

who was healed in the midst of Decapolis not only 
himself received such a bidding from his Benefactor, 
but all the people who saw the miracle were likewise 
directed to keep silence, although in vain. The most 
explicit requirement of silence was laid upon a blind 
man healed in Bethsaida; he was sent "to his house" 
with the word: "Neither go into the town, nor tell 
it to any in the town." 

We may fairly presume that in every case where 
there was likelihood of the recipient of Christ's miracu- 
lous help proclaiming His deed abroad, the command 
of silence was added. Wisdom and prudence both 
dictated such a command. For what would such peo- 
ple invariably say? The miracle and nothing but the 
miracle would be their theme. They did not even un- 
derstand the true meaning and purpose of these mir- 
acles. Their blazing Christ's miracles abroad, their 
accounts interlarded with all manner of exaggerations 
and imaginary detail, would have left an entirely false 
impression on the people. Christ did not want Him- 
self introduced as a sensational worker of miracles. 
The kingdom of faith, and not the mere work of mir- 
acles, was the burden of His message. The excited 
and enthused utterances of people who had received 
His help could not aid His cause. The unauthorized 
proclamation of what Jesus wrought and what He was, 
could only work mischief. Christ had not come to 
draw excited multitudes around Him and regale them 
with signs and wonders. He had come to seek and 
to save the lost. It was best even for those who had 
made proof of Christ's miracukras power to go home 
quietly and to ponder in their hearts what they had 



308 His Footsteps. 

seen and heard and experienced. Such quiet medita- 
tion would have helped them to believe in Christ and to 
receive His highest blessings. Faith could only be 
prevented and hindered in its growth by their public 
parading and ignorant boasting of what had been done 
to them. 

We know of only one exception to the rule Christ 
adopted in silencing the recipients of miraculous bless- 
ings. The two men freed of evil spirits in the land of 
the Gadarenes were instructed not to follow Jesus, as 
they at first desired, but to go home and publish 
throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had 
done unto them. This command was obeyed. And 
the reason for it is plain. The Gadarene people bade 
Christ leave them, and Christ did not force Himself 
upon their unwillingness; yet He left them not without 
witness. The miracle He had wrought was to ring in 
their ears, if possible to lead some of them to believe. 

Christ had made ample provision for announcing 
Himself without the questionable aid of incapable vol- 
unteers. He went in person from city to city; espec- 
ially in Galilee He made one tour after another, and 
preached and taught everywhere. Then He trained 
and instructed the twelve, and afterwards the seventy; 
and when He needed their services to prepare the way 
for Him or to send His message where He would not 
go in person, He called, commissioned, and sent them 
out with careful instructions as to where they should 
go, how they should conduct themselves, and what 
they should say and do. The wisdom of this proce- 
dure is apparent. Having His own proper and pre- 
pared agents sent at His own proper time, there was 



Tell no Man. 309 

absolutely no need of self-commissioned efforts in His 
behalf. The prudent wisdom of Jesus shines forth 
abundantly. 

How great this caution and prudence of Jesus was, 
especially as regards the proclamation of His name, 
we see by the restrictions which He placed even upon 
those who were called to be His messengers. They 
were by no means ready to declare everything to the 
people, especially when now enmity was rife in the 
land, and Jesus Himself was avoiding Galilee. There- 
fore, when Peter, leading the rest, made the noble con- 
fession, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God," 
Jesus charged them all to tell no man that thing. 
Shortly after, Peter, James, and John witnessed the 
transfiguration of Christ on the mount. "And as He 
came down from the mountain. Jesus charged them, 
saying, Tell the vision to no man until the Son of man 
be risen again from the dead." "And they kept it 
close, and told no man in those days of those things 
which they had seen." With all the instructions of 
their Master the disciples were far from understanding 
fully their own confession and such a vision as that of 
the Transfiguration. Their own interest as well as the 
cause of Jesus counseled silence for the present. The 
prudence of Jesus knew no haste; He could wait pa- 
tiently and courageously for the hour of fruition, while 
the seed slept and swelled in the ground. Where 
others would have been fast to> reap, He was prudently 
content to> sow. 

It was but a little while till the unavoidable enmity 
against Jesus began to burst forth. This was an ad- 
ditional reason for shutting the lips and stopping the 



310 His Footsteps. 

efforts of foolish men. The uninstructed enthusiasm 
of such people could only serve to inflame the hatred 
of the Jewish authorities and drive them to wreak 
their vengeance upon Jesus before His work in the 
land had been finished. We see their rising fury in 
several instances when the miraculous work of Jesus 
came before them and aroused the envy in their 
hearts. 

For the very reason, that the inevitable catastrophe 
might not be brought on before the fulness of time, 
Christ prudently guided His steps so that His work 
might be duly completed. There was no shadow Oi 
fear or cowardice in His cautious movements. His 
fearless courage faced His haters often enough; and 
when at last the time was come, Jesus left the safety 
and solitude of distant and secluded neighborhoods, 
and steadfastly set Himself to go up to Jerusalem to 
die. But while He had yet to break the bread of life 
far and near throughout the land, while He had yet 
to train the chosen apostles for their great life-work- 
after His death, while He had yet to do and to say 
all that the prophets of old had promised concerning 
Him, He followed the voice of prudence and ran no 
unnecessary risks. 

We must remember here that Christ never used His 
miraculous powers in an unnecessary way for what 
we might call mere personal ends. He could indeed 
have maintained Himself in Jerusalem as long as He 
pleased against the most violent fury of His foes. 
He could have held their frenzy in check by His om- 
nipotent word. But this was not according to His 
plans. The same end could be reached by different 



Tell no Man. 311 

means, by a prudent course more in accord with the 
Father's will. Christ would not cast Himself down 
from the temple hight, tempting God to preserve 
Him by angelic hands from untimely destruction. 
In the same way, Christ did not recklessly cast Him- 
self into the midst of His foes, and did not tempt God 
to preserve Him by miraculous intervention from un- 
timely death. Duty dictated prudence, and Christ 
guided His steps accordingly. 

Jesus made only a brief visit to Jerusalem at the 
time of the first passover after the opening of His 
ministry. After John's imprisonment He hastened to 
Galilee. (Matth. 4, 12; Mark 1, 14.) This province 
was better suited for the unhindered development of 
His work. "Along the western coast of the Sea of 
Galilee the chief scene of our Lord's northern min- 
istry, lay a net-work of towns densely inhabited, and 
containing a large admixture of Gentile traders. 
This infusion of foreign blood, the want of any such 
religious centre as Jerusalem, and the contempt with 
which the southern Jews regarded their provincial 
brethren of Galilee, had no doubt loosened to some 
extent the yoke of the priests and scribes and law- 
yers in that province." (Hughes). To be sure, even 
here in due time danger would dog His steps. Bui 
He could easily, when necessary, withdraw northwest- 
ward toward the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, or south- 
eastward into Peraea, and the end would then be near 
enough. 

And this is exactly what Christ did. Judging the 
character of the leaders in Jerusalem, Jesus had made 
Galilee from the start the scene of His most extended 



312 His Footsteps. 

work. Even thus the hatred of the hierarchy at the 
capital soon crystallized. After the second passover" 
following the beginning of His ministry, the antag- 
onism of the Sanhedrim was fixed. Therefore now 
more than ever "Jesus walked in Galilee; for He 
would not walk in Jewry (Judaea), because the Jews 
sought to kill Him." John 7, 1. Prudence more than 
ever constrained Him to avoid the holy city; His 
appearances there were only brief and transient. 

The work in Galilee went on unchecked at first; 
but 'in due time here also the rabbis and Pharisees 
turned in bitter hatred against Him. Finally the dis- 
ciples asked, "Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were 
offended after they heard this saying?" Matth. 15, 
12. Jesus knew the temper of his foes only too well, 
and next we hear of Him in the distant heathen coasts 
of Tyre and Sidon. Here we are told that He en- 
tered a house and wanted no man to know of His 
presence. Mark 7, 24. But He could not remain 
hidden, so He journeyed on till we find Him again in 
the coasts of Decapolis, east of the Lake in the 
country of the Ten Cities. Healing the deaf and 
dumb man here, He commands him to tell 
no man. Again His presence is noised abroad,, 
and again He prudently moves on. This time 
we hear of Him near Magdala in "the parts 
of Dalmanutha", Matth. 15, 39; Mark 7, 10; 
then He crosses the Lake and enters Bethsaida at its 
northern extremity. The blind man is here com- 
manded to go home and be silent about his healing. 
Jesus moves on northward toward Caesarea Philippi 



Tell no Man. 313 

and remains for some time in this neighborhood, tell- 
ing the disciples of His end. 

Finally, having thus circled about Galilee, He re- 
turns, but only to pass through, "and He would not 
that any man should know it." Mark 9-, 30. He now 
enters Capernaum for a last transient visit; and 
when asked about the tribute, renders payment "lest 
He should offend them", or provoke His enemies un- 
necessarily. He now leaves Galilee for good, going 
"through the midst of Galilee and Samaria." He 
soon appears in Jerusalem, whither He had set His 
face, to die there, passing in and out of the city for 
a brief time, then retiring to Persea, till His final en- 
trance is made, and the great Passion-week begins. 

These last movements of Jesus are especially cau- 
tious and careful. When requested to proceed to 
Jerusalem at the feast of tabernacles He answers: 
"Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this 
feast; for my time is not yet fully come." When His 
kinsmen had gone, Jesus also went, "not openly, but 
as it were in secret." John 7, 10. At the opening of 
the feast there was great questioning as to whether 
Jesus would come; and no man could tell. His foes, 
therefore, did not make full preparation for His de- 
struction. In the midst of the feast Jesus suddenly 
appeared. John 7, 14. Even then, however, re- 
peated attempts were made to take Him (John 7, 52, 
44; 8, 20), also to stone Him (John 8, 59). It was by 
no means safe for Him to stay long within the walls, 
and accordingly we find Him at one time at Bethany 
{Luke 10, 38), then somewhere near the city "in a 



314 His Footsteps. 

certain place" (Luke 11, 1), now here, now there. 
Finally He withdraws altogether to Peraea. 

But the last hour came on apace. After the royal 
entrv on Palm Sunday He retires to quiet Bethany. 
The plans of the Jews for His death are progressing 
steadily. Only a few more careful evasions, and all 
will be over. The place for the passover is prepared 
secretly so that even Judas knew not where it would 
be held. Christ means to preclude any treachery or 
betrayal during those last sacred hours. Knowing 
all the movements and plans of His enemies He pru- 
dently guides Himself, so that He may give Himself 
into their hands at the time and place chosen by Him- 
self and the Father. 

The example of Christ shows us that Christian 
prudence is one of the finest of Christlike virtues. 

There is a time to speak, and a time to be silent; 
a time to stretch forth the hands boldly, and a time 
to fold them submissively; a time to stand like Lu- 
ther at Worms against the whole world if need be, 
and a time to pray and labor silently like Luther in 
his Patmos at the Wartburg; a time to risk every- 
thing at the call of God, no matter what the danger 
that threatens, and a time to risk nothing because 
God does not call, and we must not tempt Him by 
our rashness; a time to expect even miraculous in- 
tervention from on high, and a time to expect noth- 
ing but the regular sequence of cause and effect; a 
time to trust all the possibilities of divine promise, and 
a time to follow only the prose of human probabilities, 
as Christian reason marks them out. 



Tell no Man. 315 

We are prone to make mistakes by forgetting now 
the one and then the other. To be silent, to go out 
of the way, to take no risk, to tie the thoughts down 
to unpleasant probabilities, often seems tame and even 
cowardly. But we see Christ pursuing the prudent 
path all through those three years of His ministry; 
and His example should be enough for even the most 
valorous of His followers. When we have no clear 
call of God to go forward into danger and death, 
Christlike prudence is the highest virtue, and self- 
willed rashness the greatest wrong. On the other 
hand, to speak out boldly, to stand even solitary and 
alone against overwhelming odds, to dare unflinch- 
ingly even apparent impossibilities, may seem fool- 
hardy to the timid and weak, when they listen to the 
voice of false prudence and temporizing expediency. 
But where the voice of God calls, all arguments of 
reason, all remonstrances of foolish human wisdom 
are not prudence, but mere wilful disobedience, alto- 
gether un-Christlike and un-Christian. 

It certainly belongs to Christian prudence and wis- 
dom to take the rich earthly gifts of God gratefully 
and to dispose of them in such a way that the hour of 
need will not find us totally unprovided. Prudence 
demands that we shield our health and use all human 
means placed at our disposal for regaining it when 
lost. Speculation is sin; gambling or betting like- 
wise. The risk involved may produce an excitement 
pleasurable to the the ungodly; in the godly this risk, 
this petty or potent tempting of God, will only pro- 
duce abhorrence. Only when our wisdom is at an 



316 His Footsteps. 

end. will the Christlike man look to God and expect 
everything of Him. When all our efforts fail to bring 
us bread, He still has means to provide for us; He 
may commission the ravens to feed us; when all our 
prayerful medical care is fruitless, He still has reme- 
dies to preserve life ; when all our God-given strength 
and skill proves impotent to ward off the threatening 
danger. He still has power and wisdom to shield. 
Then is the hour for heroic faith; and until then is 
the hour for prayerful, careful prudence. 

The example of Christ contains one especial lesson 
of prudent wisdom. No exegencies or demands of 
the hour and no seeming present advantages dare in- 
duce us to set aside the divinely indicated order for 
spreading the name of Christ. Christ's cautious pro- 
cedure in silencing many who were ready to proclaim 
His name, and in restricting the utterances even of 
the twelve, surely contains a bidding we dare not dis- 
regard. Not all, however willing and zealous, may 
undertake the work of preaching and teaching the 
gospel, but only those who are properly fitted out 
and called. It is not said that those whom Christ 
commands to be still, understood in every instance 
the reason for His command ; some evidently did not, 
but imagined that there was great reason for their 
speaking out. And yet though men failed to under- 
stand the prudent wisdom of Christ, the results of 
their hasty zeal abundantly justified the wisdom of 
Jesus. Some now may not understand why women, 
for instance, are commanded by the Scriptures to 
keep silence in the church; and yet the wisdom of 



Tell no Man. 317 

the Holy Spirit's prohibition will never lack justifica- 
tion. The higher the plane of life or of work, the 
more neccessary Christlike carefulness and obedience. 
The more our prudence trusts the wisdom of the 
Master of all prudence, the greater will be our praise 
and blessing in keeping the path of His footsteps. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

FATHER, FORGIVE THEM. 

THE cross on Golgatha's brow is at once the 
symbol of the fiercest human hate, and of the 
most ardent divine love. Greater than the 
hatred was the love that met and sought to overcome it. 
And now this love of Jesus Christ bids us follow in its 
footsteps and love our enemies, bless them that curse 
us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them 
which despitefully use us and persecute us. 

Christ had many enemies. It cannot surprise us 
that this should be so. Christ Himself told the disci- 
ples: "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated 
me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the 
world would love its own; but because ye are not of 
the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, 
therefore the world hateth you." The world hated 
Christ for the same reason it hated and still hates His 
disciples, because He was not of the world. The two 
were diametrically opposed from the start. False- 
hood will never love truth, nor hypocrisy purity of pur- 
pose ; darkness will ever hate the light, and the adher- 
ents of error Him who exposes its falsity. The lovers 
of sin will have no affection for Him who is sinless, and 
would separate them from their sin, pronouncing con- 
demnation upon them if they refused. Those who are 




Father, forgive than; for they know not 
what they do. — Luke 2}, 2./. 



Father, Forgive Them. 319 

from beneath hate Him who is from above; they who 
were of their father, the devil, had nothing but an- 
tagonism for the Son of God. "Woe unto you when 
all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers 
to the false prophets." It was no wonder that the 
Jews did not speak well of Christ, but exhausted their 
skill in vituperation and slander, for He was no false 
prophet, pandering to their lusts of earthly greatness 
and fleshly ambition. The light came into the world, 
but men loved darkness rather than light. This ex- 
plains all the enmity that rose around the path of 
Christ who was the true light. 

The cleansing of the temple at the beginning of 
Christ's ministry brings to view the gulf that separated 
the Son of man from the Jewish authorities. He 
sought the honor of His heavenly Father, they sought 
a base revenue by dragging God's honor into the dust. 
Christ would have His Father's house a house of 
prayer for all nations, they were ready to make it a 
den of thieves. Therefore, when Christ cleansed the 
Temple, no applause was forthcoming from the scribes 
and elders. Their antagonistic spirit comes out de- 
manding by what authority Christ performed this 
deed. They showed with sufficient clearness that the 
authority they loved and acted upon, differed greatly 
from the authority that brought forth the deed they 
had just witnessed. 

We meet the same antagonism at every turn in the 
life of Christ. They who are from beneath could not 
understand the words and deeds of Him who was from 
above, and found themselves constantly at variance 
with the Son who did onlv what He had seen and heard 



320 His Footsteps. 

with the Father. When Christ forgave the paralytic 
the scribes were shocked, and Christ's gracious act ap- 
peared to them to be blasphemy; and even after He 
wrought the miracle of healing the sick man by a 
word, their objection remained. In the same way. 
when Christ healed the man who had lain for thirty- 
eight years, and bade him take up his bed and walk, 
the Jews, shocked at seeing a bed carried on the Sab- 
bath, inquired indignantly, "What man is that which 
said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk?" The gra- 
cious works of the Son of God were grievous offenses 
in the eyes of these people who knew not God. And 
when Christ's reply came to their ears, "My Father 
worketh hitherto, and I work," their anger grew so 
great that they sought to kill Him, because in addi- 
tion to breaking the Sabbath, as they thought, He 
made Himself equal with God. 

The same effect was produced by the teaching of 
Christ. They who knew nothing of true mercy were 
silenced indeed, but not satisfied, by the merciful dec- 
laration of Christ, that the sick needed a physician, 
and not those who are whole ; and haughtily they turned 
away from this Physician because He consorted with 
publicans and sinners. How widely separated were 
Christ accepting the woman who was a sinner, and 
Simon the Pharisee and his companions drawing their 
robes aside, lest her touch might defile them. All the 
wonderful mercy and compassion of Jesus, seeking to 
save the lost, was like a sealed book to the blind eyes 
of the Pharisees and scribes. Every invitation of 
Jesus to come unto Him as the way, the truth, and the 
life, as the light of the world, as the Son of God sent by 



Father, Forgive Them. 321 

the Father, as the Savior who alone has the words of 
eternal life, aroused the Jews to hatred. They re- 
jected this Bridegroom; they would not have this Man 
to rule over them, they wanted no king- but Caesar. 

Whenever any man did turn to Jesus and accept the 
invitation of His saving love, the Jews became envious 
and angry. They cast out the blind man whom Christ 
healed, when this man refused to admit that his Helper 
was not of God. The moment the Pharisees heard 
that the people were murmuring regarding Jesus, 
"When Christ cometh, will He do more miracles than 
these which this man hath done?" they sent officers 
to take Him. The return of these officers with noth- 
ing but the statement, "Never man spake like this 
Man," enraged them still more. Full of impotent an- 
ger they cried: "Are ye also deceived? Have any of 
the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him? But 
this people who knoweth not the law are accursed!" 
In vain did timid Nicodemus attempt to reason with 
them, "Doth our law judge any man before it heareth 
him and knoweth what he doeth?" Glaring upon him 
they curled their lips in scorn. "Art thou also of Gal- 
ilee?" A little more and even Nicodemus would have 
been cast out in spite of his high station. After this it 
cannot surprise us that the chief rulers sought to kill' 
Lazarus because the miracle Christ wrought upon him 
made a deep impression upon many of the people.. 
The more Christ unfolded His mission of heavenly love„ 
the more did the servants of Satan rage and rebel. To> 
quench the love of Jesus in His own blood, to annihi- 
late all who listened to this love, became the fiery pas- 
sion of their hearts. The heart of Christ was filled 



322 His Footsteps. 

with saving love and truth, the hearts of His enemies 
with murder and lies; this explains their conduct as 
well as His. 

When once this spirit of enmity had begun to stir 
in the hearts of the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders, 
there was no stopping until the lifeless form of their 
victim hung upon the cross. The more Christ prose- 
cuted His work of love, the more they prosecuted their 
work of hate. They watched Him, tempted Him, 
sought to ensnare Him, slandered Him, vituperated 
Him, agitated the people against Him, conspired 
against Him, attempted again and again to take and 
kill Him, brought treachery against Him, and finally 
unloaded all their desperate cruelty upon His innocent 
head, and nailed Him to the accursed tree. Every at- 
tempt of the love of Christ failed to check the onward 
rush of their hate. From every sweet flower of kind- 
ness and gentleness they drew the poison of deadly 
hostility. Far beyond the grave this desperate hatred 
followed Him who gave Himself into death as a sacri- 
fice for them. 

Of all this hatred, as far as Christ is concerned, His 
own saying is true: "Now they have both seen and 
hated both me and my Father; but this cometh to pass, 
that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their 
law, They hated me without a cause." From the be- 
ginning He had fulfilled all righteousness; we seek in 
vain in His life for any just cause of offense; the Jews 
themselves knew no reply but slander and insult to 
the challenge, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?'' 
He ever told them the truth — by attempting to stone or 
crucify Him for this they committed a crime for which 



Father, Forgive Them. 323 

they themselves should have been stoned or crucified. 
"Many good works have I shewed you from my Fath- 
er; for which of those works do ye stone me?" They 
were constrained to answer, "For a good work we 
stone Thee not"; and yet they never could point to a 
single evil work. 

To be sure, the words and works of Christ angered, 
and at times even infuriated, His enemies. He told 
them plainly that they were not the seed of Abraham, 
but of their father the devil; and He proved what He 
said by pointing to their hearts full of lies and murder. 
He declared them hypocrites, and proved it again by 
laying bare their empty outward observances and false 
lip-service, while their hearts were all filthy within and 
far from God. He showed them plainly whither their 
sin was leading them, even to punishment greater than 
that awaiting Sodom or Nineveh. The calm, dispas- 
sionate, absolute truth of all these declarations was so 
manifest, that they who were smitten by them found no 
answer. Some ground their teeth in suppressed rage, 
others burst out with vehemence; but never a single 
Pharisee or lawyer stood up and proved the word of 
Christ false. It was impossible for the Son of God 
to remain silent while about Him men hardened them- 
selves in sin. "If I had not come aod spoken unto 
them, they had not had sin: but now they have no 
cloak for their sin." God had sent Him to save men, 
but when they would not be saved and stopped their 
ears, Christ had to tell them that their end would be 
death and damnation. Every rag of excuse, every plea 
of ignorance was removed, and they were exhibited 
as what they were in reality. Though they might 



324 His Footsteps. 

grow frantic and frenzied, the Father's true and faith- 
ful witness did His part. 

However great the enmity that assailed Jesus, how- 
ever strongly He was impelled to use words stern and 
awful, there was never in His dealings with His ene- 
mies the least sign of enmity, spite, malice, vengeance, 
or cruel exultation on His part. He brushed their vex- 
atious questions aside like so many noisome flies. He 
frustrated their most vicious and dextrous attempts at 
entangling Him, by uttering a single sentence, by 
drawing attention to a single word. They were ever 
completely at His mercy in the war they waged upon 
Him. But at every turn in Christ's, dealings with His 
foes we hear the voice of love. When they were ready 
to stone Him, He had barely uttered the sweet gos- 
pel promise: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man 
keep my saying, he shall never see death." When they 
tried again to stone Him, He had just finished the dec- 
laration of love: "My sheep hear my voice, and 1 
know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them 
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall 
any man pluck them out of my hand." Never did 
Christ return evil for evil. When the Pharisees ac- 
cused Him of blasphemy in forgiving sins, and again 
in making Himself equal with God, and when they de- 
clared Him in league with Beelzebub, He stopped and 
calmly explained and proved the utter baselessness of 
these accusations. When the Pharisees dogged His 
footsteps, watched His every word and act with mali- 
cious eyes to catch some flaw, used every means fair 
or foul for injuring Him, He never taunted them, and 
never made one move resembling resentment or retali- 



Father, Forgive Them. 325 

ation. Love, divine, perfect love lay at the bottom of 
all He said and did. 

This love was ready at all times to forgive. Every 
gospel invitation and promise contained the offer of 
forgiveness. "Whosoever believeth shall not perish" 
— even though he have hitherto been one of Christ's 
greatest foes. In fact, this gospel offer of forgiveness 
was the vital part of all Christ's discourses and conver- 
sations with His enemies. He labored assiduously that 
they might turn from their sin, believe in Him, and 
receive everlasting forgiveness. As at last He treated 
the malefactor, so He longed to treat all His foes. 
When that evil-doer ceased blaspheming with his com- 
panion and turned to* Christ, praying to be remembered 
in His kingdom, Christ forgave him his blasphemy 
and all his sin, and assured him of the joys of Para- 
dise. It was this same forgiving love which pleaded 
with the Father above at the very moment when the 
terrible act of crucifixion was performed. As Christ's 
limbs were stretched out upon the cross, as the dull 
blows resounded driving home the sharp spikes 
through bone and sinew — it was not a cry of pain or 
anguish, it was a prayer that came from the bloodless 
lips: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what 
they do." Even at this moment Christ's pierced hands 
opened the door of forgiveness. The angel of wrath 
was not permitted to descend at once with his flaming 
sword; the gracious messengers of peace were still to 
preach the gospel in Jerusalem and Judaea. The tree 
was not to be cut down at once; for another year, a 
year as God's grace counts it, the gardener would use 
all His efforts and skill, that it might yet be made to 



326 His Footsteps. 

bring fruit. Here indeed the words of Christ were 
converted into deeds: Love your enemies, bless them 
that curse you, pray for them that despitefully entreat 
you and persecute you. 

Perhaps the most striking feature in Christ's deal- 
ings with His enemies is His absolute non-resistance. 
He never met violence by violence; He never raised a 
hand to strike a blow. The most that He did was to 
convey Himself out of the reach of His enemies, until 
the appointed hour came. He bore every slight and 
injury with perfect patience and meekness. His in- 
nocence was the shield that covered Him. When men 
were not deterred by that, when in spite of it they 
wounded His tender heart and at last heaped untold 
sufferings upon His head, Christ submitted without 
even a murmur, like a lamb sent to the slaughter. The 
weapons of His warfare were absolutely spiritual, and 
never in the least carnal. Therefore Christ was ever 
victorious, and His enemies ever defeated, even when 
their brutality seemed to have conquered, and Christ 
hung bleeding on the cross. No violence was used in 
reply to Judas' treachery, nothing but the word that 
cut deeply into the traitor's conscience: "Friend, 
wherefore art thou come? Judas, betrayest thou the 
Son of man with a kiss?" No' blow to> reply to the 
blow of the high priest's servant, but only the crush- 
ing rebuke: "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the 
evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?" When Peter 
could not restrain his hand and smote off Malchus' 
ear, Christ made Peter desist at once; moreover, He 
did not let the hurt pass that had been done to His 
enemy, but touched the ear and healed it. The crimi- 



Father, Forgive Them. 327 

nal procedure of the Jewish Council in seeking false 
witness Christ condemned by the silence of innocence, 
and His most hardened foes felt the just condemnation. 
Such were the weapons Christ wielded throughout; 
they are the only ones able to conquer evil hearts, and 
if these fail in the hands of love, evil must go on till it 
plunges headlong into its own doom. 

As Christ could not pass through this world without 
being hated and persecuted, so we who tread in His 
footsteps cannot escape enmity and opposition. "If 
they have hated me, they will hate you." And the 
reason for this is the same as in the case of Christ. 
The world loves its own; therefore it hates those who 
are not of the world, but are chosen out of the world. 
The spirit of the world is full of bitter animosity toward 
those who are led by the Spirit of God. Woe unto us 
when all men speak well of us; for this would show 
that we are led by the same worldly spirit. 

The world's hatred and persecution is therefore a 
sign that we are not of the world. "Rejoice, there- 
fore, and be glad," when the world's hostility proclaims 
that you belong to Christ. "Think it not strange con- 
cerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though 
some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice, 
inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, 
that when His glory is revealed, ye may be glad also 
with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name 
of Christ, happy are ye ; for the Spirit of glory and of 
God resteth upon you." 

Nevertheless, we must remember that our sin fre- 
quently provokes men to oppose and evillv entreat us. 
Peter admonishes us, and we must recognize the ne- 



3-28 His Footsteps. 

cessity of the admonition, that none of its suffer as an 
evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. 
Where Christ could say that men hated Him without 
a cause, we must confess that we frequently give them 
cause to hate us. When our evil, perverse, foolish 
actions bring their natural fruits in stirring evil men 
to retaliate by malice, vilification, and vengeance, we 
must bow our heads in shame, suffer what our evil 
deeds are worth, repent, and turn unto better deeds. 
But we are' so liable to think that we are right; so easily 
we deceive ourselves. Other men's faults we see, our 
own we fail to see; others we judge and condemn, and 
fail to do Paul's bidding, "If we judged ourselves, we 
should not be judged." The danger that thus threat- 
ens us must ever be kept in mind and warded off by 
constant self-examination in honesty of heart. That 
man is his own greatest foe who persists in judging 
himself falsely, and refuses to submit to the purifying 
judgments of his Master. 

Love your enemies — it is an absolute impossibility 
for the old Adam in us to do it, but never impossible 
for the new man born of the Spirit of Christ. "His 
commandments are not grievous", and this one is no 
exception, for those who follow Christ's footsteps, 
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you — it is 
one of the distinctive commandments of Christianity, 
and not so much a commandment as a vital principle, 
lifting our religion far above all others. We see it 
shining forth in Stephen preaching to the hostile Jews 
and praying for them in Christ's own words with his 
dying breath. We behold it again in Paul, whose 
heart's prayer for Israel was that they might be saved, 



Father, Forgive Them. 329 

and who was ready to suffer anything and lose every- 
thing, if only he might attain this desire of his love. 
And yet the Israel for which he travailed in spirit 
hated and persecuted him as it had hated and perse- 
cuted Christ. 

When we are bidden by Christ's example to love 
those that hate us, we must distinguish between the 
love that flows from the natural heart and the spiritual 
love that flows from the new spirit dwelling in us. 
Men love their wives', parents their children, friends 
their friends, the recipients of favors their benefactors. 
Such love is possible without Christ. It is not a love 
of this kind which Christ means in bidding us love our 
enemies. All natural love has more or less of a selfish 
foundation ; therefore all natural love must be steeped 
into the Spirit of Christ, cleansed, elevated, sanctified. 
The selfish basis of natural love cannot be made to 
bear the true love of an enemy, because this love re- 
quires Christlike unselfishness. But when our hearts 
are led by the Spirit of Christ, when we learn to love 
parents, wives, children, friends, and benefactors with 
the spiritualized love that flows from above, we will 
be able to love our enemies also with the same love, 
born of Christ, and free from selfishness. 

The vital purpose of this love will be identical with 
the purpose of Christ's love for His enemies. Mere 
natural love lives and moves in the things of earth, 
seeking to give pleasure and profit only in the things 
that fade and perish. The love that is from above 
lives and moves in Christ and in the things of Christ, 
putting even the things of earth entirely into His ser- 
vice. Christ's love sought above all the salvation of 



330 His Footsteps. 

His enemies: this was the great object of His labors 
of love in their midst. To win our enemies for sal- 
vation must be the central purpose of our love, of 
our loving labors, prayers, and desires. Christ's love 
shed many earthly blessings upon the men about 
Him. He healed the ear of Malchus; He fed thou- 
sands, though among them there may have been 
pharisaic spies; He healed the ten lepers of whom 
nine lacked even gratitude. But in all these works 
of love the object of Christ was to lead men upward 
to appreciate His heavenly love, and to seek from His 
loving hand the everlasting gifts He came to bestow. 
The same motive lies at the bottom of all Christlike 
love of enemies, at the bottom of all the kind and 
gracious deeds that flow from this love. When we 
feed a hungry foe, or give him drink in his thirst, or 
aid him in sickness and any distress, the inner motive 
must go beyond the outer relief. That relief is only 
the proper outward shell; the sweet kernel within is 
the desire that our Christlike love may be recognized, 
that it may overcome the antagonism of our foe, that 
it may penetrate his heart also with the power of 
Christ and lead him to become what we are, true fol- 
lowers of Christ's footsteps. It is clear that a love 
of this kind differs entirely from all the love of which 
the natural man is capable; yet this is Christlike love. 
It is impossible for this love in the hearts of Christ's 
followers to close its eyes and seal its lips, when it 
meets the wickedness that dominates its enemies 
and threatens to lead them on to destruction. The 
love of Christ testified against the hypocrisy and 
reigning sins of His Jewish enemies. It armed itself 



Father, Forgive Them. 331 

with the weapons of heaven and sought to vanquish 
the evil it met at every turn. Our love must do the 
same. It must grasp the spiritual sword of truth and 
testify against the open sins it meets. The thrusts of 
this sword, however, are not malice, bitterness, vilifi- 
cation, blustering words, offensive accusations, but 
calm statements and reasonings from the Word of 
God, earnest rebukes and appeals to conscience, dis- 
passionate warnings of the judgments of God, loving 
invitations to forsake the kingdom of darkness and 
to enter the kingdom of Christ. Christ's life exhibits 
a great deal of this warfare of love against sin and its 
ruinous power among His enemies. To be sure, 
much of this work of love will not gain its blessed 
object. If they have obeyed me, they will obey you; 
many will not obey Christ, many will not obey us. 
They hated Christ only so much more intensely, they 
will hate and persecute us with the same increased in- 
tensity. But as Christ's love continued its work to 
the end and bore the sufferings that resulted, so will 
the Christlike love of His followers, comforting itself 
with the example of Christ and with the sweetness of 
His love. 

The love of Christ was full of forgiveness, and our 
love must follow in the same path. "Agree with thine 
adversary quickly"; love will ever be ready to forget 
and forgive all it may have suffered, when its adver- 
saries desire pardon. Not seven times, but seventy 
times seven, will it be ready to forgive. More than 
this, Christlike love holds out its forgiving hands even 
when its enemies desire no forgiveness and are bent 
on further injury. It resembles the love of God, which 



332 His Footsteps. 

is ready to forgive till the end, ready to bury the past 
and to receive its worst enemies into friendship and 
loving communion even at the last moment. 

Christlike love is not opposed to Christlike pru- 
dence and wisdom. Jesus avoided His enemies when 
their fury grew excessive and His remaining in their 
midst was useless. The same course is for us to fol- 
low. Love will do all it can, and when that is in 
vain, withdraws lest enmity proceed to crime. Christ 
indeed gave Himself at last into the hands of His 
foes that they might work their will completely and 
slay Him. He was to die for our sins; we have no 
call tO' make such a sacrifice. 

The wickedness of men is so great on earth that 
Cod has given the sword to the powers that be for 
vengeance upon the evil-doers. Christlike love does 
not debar us from seeking the proper protection of 
government against the malice of our enemies. Paul 
appealed to Caesar. It would not be love to cast our- 
selves into the blood-thirsty hands of our enemies that 
they may multiply and increase their crimes. 

Love is contrary to war and to every form of vio- 
lence. But as long as the world is full of wickedness, 
refusing obedience to the Spirit of Christ, war may 
become a bitter necessity. The powers that be have 
received the sword to restrain the violent wickedness 
that would go forth spreading destruction and ravag- 
ing in insatiable greed. A Christian president, sen- 
ate, or king, standing as the representatives of an 
entire nation, may be called to face the alternative, 
either to have the dearest treasures of the nation 
snatched away by the greedy ambition or some other 



Father, Forgive Them 333 

evil passion of a foe, or to grasp the sword com- 
mitted to its trust, and wield it for the right and 
against the wrong. What the Christlike choice must 
be is not doubtful. A man may, therefore, be a sol- 
dier and a general and yet a true follower of Christ. 
His profession need not conflict with the love de- 
manded in Christ's footsteps. John the Baptist did 
not ask soldiers to give up their profession as one 
at variance with the kingdom he proclaimed. He 
bade them: "Do violence to no man, neither accuse 
any falsely, and be content with your wages." The 
police power and the army power of the state are 
checks for the violence and terrorism that would oth- 
erwise overrun the world. The one operates within 
the nation as such, the other between nations. As 
long as they stand for justice and right, so long they 
dare not be condemned, although their operations 
may be painful in the extreme. But when the powers 
that should check" evil begin themselves to work evil, 
there is no doubt as to the condemnation. Countless 
wars have been waged which stand condemned with- 
out question. And yet, however much a soft sentimen- 
talism may recoil from the bloody arbitrament of war, 
the dream of peace an earth will remain a dream, in 
spite of all humanitarian progress, until the nations 
of the earth bow in willing obedience to the true 
Prince of Peace. The Christian would rather follow 
the plow and wield the sickle in the arts of peace, but 
when the call comes to defend his altar and his hearth, 
he will not hesitate to shoulder the musket and buckle 
on the sword in the name of God. 



334 His Footsteps. 

Numberless are the evils that flow from the hatred 
of men. As this hatred bruised and wounded Christ 
without a cause, so it will bruise and wound His fol- 
lowers, now more and now less. Often our only 
reply will be like that of Christ, the silence of patience 
and innocence, crying aloud to the hardened con- 
sciences of our persecutors and to the tender heart 
of our Father in heaven. The tyranny of evil cannot 
oppress us forever. When God's purpose in suffering 
us to be oppressed has been accomplished, He will 
remove us from the reach of all enmity and translate 
us into the everlasting joys of His kingdom of peace. 




/ am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth 
///.- life for the sheep.— John w, u. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

HE GIVETH HIS LIFE. 

IN the death of Christ upon the cross we behold the 
completion of His self-sacrifice. All that pre- 
cedes this final act bears the same stamp ; it is true 
of all His earthly life — "the Shepherd giveth His life 
for the sheep." The spirit of self-sacrifice must con- 
trol the life of every follower in Christ's footsteps. 

The entire humiliation of Christ, from His birth into 
the world till His death and burial, is one continued 
sacrifice. For the Son of God to enter this world full 
of sin and shame and sorrow as one of our pitiable 
race, was certainly a sacrificing of self such as the world 
has never seen. But His becoming a servant and walk- 
ing among men in humility was only the beginning of 
the stupendous sacrifice He made, the preliminary step, 
as it were, for taking upon Himself all the burden that 
was crushing us to death. He was born of a woman 
and put under the law, that He might redeem them that 
were under the law, and lead them to the adoption of 
sons. He was made man, that He who knew no sin 
might be made sin for us, and become a curse in our 
stead, and thus obtain for us the propitiation for all 
our sins. He sacrificed the glories of heaven for a 
time that He might bring to God the complete sacrifice 
of a perfect life under the law of God and of an inno- 



336 His Footsteps. 

cent death under the curse of the law. The great sac- 
rifice of Christ was the taking of the mighty burden of 
rendering perfect obedience to God from our impotent 
shoulders upon His own strong shoulders, and the giv- 
ing up of His own innocent self into all the terrible 
punishment brought on by our countless transgress- 
ions. He put Himself completely in our stead, made 
Himself in every respect our substitute, lived a life 
of perfect holiness for us, died an innocent death in 
our stead. He came and performed the labors which 
belonged to others, and which they had failed to per- 
form, so that His work might be set down to their 
credit ; He came and paid the penalty which others had 
deserved, and which would have plunged them into 
condemnation forever, so that His payment, rendered 
in perfect innocence, might be accredited to the guilty 
for their acquittal and release. "I am the good shep- 
herd ; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." 
"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay 
down my life, that I might take it again. No man 
taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have 
power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. 
This commandment have I received of my Father." 

The greatness of the sacrifice thus made by the Son 
of God becomes clear to> us when we recall, in the first 
place, that it was made for us while we were still His 
enemies. Greater love hath no man than this that he 
lay down his life for his friends. But Christ, in a love 
surpassing all the love ever known on earth, laid down 
His life for us who were not His friends, but the friends 
of sin and the followers of Satan. He died to redeem 
those who as yet cared nothing for Him, being given 



He Giveth His Life. 337 

completely to their own evil lusts; He sacrificed Him- 
self for those who hated and murdered Him and de- 
spised all His self-sacrificing love. For us, while we 
were still His enemies He entered into labors and 
agonies such as had never been witnessed on earth. 
The sorrows of Gethsemane and the pains of Golgotha, 
the sweat that fell like drops of blood from the bowed 
brow in the garden, the woes of the soul on the cross 
voiced in that awful cry, "My God, my God, why hast 
Thou forsaken me!" open up to us such depths of sac- 
rifice as we can never fathom with our poor powers of 
imagination. All that heaven and earth have ever 
seen does not compare with the offering which Christ 
made when He gave His life for the ransom of many. 

We must first of all consider Christ's sacrifice as a 
whole, from its first contemplation in the counsels of: 
the Trinity in heaven till its final completion amid the 
darkness of death. Then we may pause to mark also 
some of the separate parts of this sacrifice. 

The lad Christ Jesus, when twelve years old, knew 
that His Father was He who dwelt in the unapproach- 
able light of heaven, and that the business of His young 
life on earth was to do the Father's will, to cany out 
the Father's plans for redeeming our lost race. Will- 
ingly He allowed Himself, like Isaac of old, to be laid 
upon the altar. He, who owned a throne in heaven, 
went down to. Nazareth and obeyed an earthly mother 
and an earthly foster-father. All the greatness and! 
majesty that was His as the Son of God He meekly 
covered up and bowed His head in the humiliation of 
a poor carpenter's home. 



338 His Footsteps. 

For eighteen years Christ dwelt in the little Galilean 
town. Then He came forward to proclaim the king- 
dom by word and deed. The last three years of His 
earthly life were one continued sacrifice. He became 
a wayfarer and a pilgrim, having now not even a home 
in which to shelter His weary limbs and refresh His 
tired strength. He traveled from city to city to preach 
and heal, devoting His time and strength completely 
to the arduous task; and even in the waste and desert 
places, where He sought a brief rest, He submitted to 
be followed, and full of compassion instructed and fed 
the multitudes. His hand was ever stretched out to 
bless; a shining train of miraculous healings followed 
His path hither and thither throughout the land. And 
these signs were not only priceless benefits granted 
freely to the individuals receiving them, they were gifts 
of God to all who beheld them or heard the account 
of how they had been wrought, directing every Israel- 
ite to the everlasting fountain of salvation. The labors 
of Christ were of infinite value to the Jewish people. 
Never did prophet work with such deep devotion, with 
such unselfish and self-forgetting love, with such tire- 
less zeal and steady strength, with such loftiness of 
purpose and perfection of achievement. As the shep- 
herd forgets all dangers and hardships in seeking the 
lost sheep, so He, the true Shepherd, sent to the lost 
sheep of the house of Israel, sacrificed His strength of 
body, mind, and heart in the hard and dangerous work 
of bringing help to Israel. And this sacrifice was made 
amid a multitude of discouragements. Few recog- 
nized at all what Christ was really doing for His peo- 
ple; the great crowd failed to grasp His blessed pur- 



He Giveth His Life. 339 

pose; ingratitude was His reward at every turn; hatred 
on the part of the leaders of the people, and finally 
shame and cruel death. Yet the love that prompted 
His self-sacrificing labors never waned, however much 
the animosity and hostility of His own people dark- 
ened around Him. He came to His own, to offer Him- 
self and all that He had, for their eternal welfare; the 
offering was made even unto perfection, although His 
own received Him not. 

In the labors Christ devoted to the training of the 
disciples as future apostles we meet the same self-sacri- 
ficing devotion. The Master is ever seeking what may 
profit His servants. He performs the laborious task 
of sowing, so that in time to come, when they go forth 
in His stead, the more delightful task of reaping may 
fall to their lot. He never wearies in giving them in- 
structions, making explanations, answering questions, 
solving difficulties, leading them upward and onward 
from littleness unto fulness of faith, from narrowness 
to breadth of love. With infinite tenderness; care, and 
wisdom He guides their wavering steps; with divine 
patience He bears their faults and errors, taking them 
again and again by the hand fr> lead them aright ; with 
love surpassing a mother's He shields them against the 
foe, tempering every attack, trial, and task so that they 
may be able to bear it. His heart is ever full of thought 
for them; in their interest He sacrifices Himself. 

The last days and hours of Christ's life reveal this 
spirit of self-sacrifice in all its beauty and fulness. The 
shadows of death are already gathering about the Son 
of man, yet He thinks ever of the men who have been 
with Him in His temptations. He labors to prepare 



340 His Footsteps. 

them for the coming catastrophe, fortifying them be- 
forehand, cheering them with divine consolations and 
heavenly promises, enfolding them in the mighty arms 
of prevailing prayer. In the night in which He was 
betrayed, He, their Lord and Master, stoops to wash 
the feet of His disciples, leaving them an example of 
humble, loving service from which they may draw 
inspiration all their lives. Peter is not left without 
warning, the Master prays for him especially, and in 
the midst of His sufferings turns His loving eyes upon 
the fallen disciple to lead Mm unto repentance and 
tears. The highpriestly prayer is full of petitions for 
the men God had given Him. When the traitor's kiss 
was already upon Christ's holy cheek, and the ropes 
were tightening around His wrists, He bids His cap- 
tors to let these go, even the eleven standing terror- 
stricken at His side. He gives Himself into death, 
and in the very act shields His disciples from a similar 
fate. The Son of man was come not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom 
for many. 

"Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise 
dominion over them, and they that are great exercise 
authority upon tiiem." This is the way of the natural 
heart; it is full of pride, ambition, selfishness, is ever 
bent on securing honor, obedience, service from others. 
"But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will 
be great among you, let him be your minister; and 
whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your 
servant; even as the Son of man came not to be min- 
istered unto, but to minister, and to give His life as a 
ransom for many." The Christian's life-principle is 



He Giveth His Life. 341 

that of his Master and the opposite of that of the world, 
self-sacrifice instead of self-service, self-denial instead 
of self-aggrandizement. The more nearly we approach 
the example of Christ in making His life an offering in 
behalf of others, the greater we shall be in His king- 
dom. 

The shadow of this specific Christian virtue is found 
here and there in the kingdom of the world, but the 
shadow differs entirely from the substance as found 
only in the kingdom of Christ. Natural love fre- 
quently prompts to a kind of self-sacrifice. Maternal 
affection has been strong enough to lay down life itself 
to shield a child from death. The bonds of friendship 
have led even pagans to sacrifice themselves for others. 
The story of Damon and Pythias illustrates what a 
mighty offering natural love may achieve. The world 
from its own standpoint has learned to a certain extent 
to appreciate the beauty and greatness of disinterested 
brotherly love and service culminating in heroic devo- 
tion and self-sacrifice. Song and story are loud in 
praise of the noble men and women who have yielded 
their lives in the interest of some great cause. The 
world would be dreary indeed, if no ray of natural love 
would dispel the black shadow of greed and selfishness, 
if no gleam of nobleness and heroic devotion would 
offset the cold calculations of self-interest and the ani- 
mal cruelty bent only on self-preservation. But the 
fairest flower of mere human love, the sweetest odor 
of mere human deeds of kindness and self-sacrifice are 
not to be compared to the love and sacrifice of self 
which grows like golden fruit on the heavenly tree of 
communion with Christ. 



342 His Footsteps. 

In the most admirable deeds of the children of the 
world there is no love to God; their noblest sacrifices 
are not made for the sake of Christ. Even though, they 
do "many wonderful works," and do them "in the 
name" of Christ, ostensibly for His sake, as long as 
their hearts are far from Him, He must declare: "Ye 
did it not to me." Outwardly the deeds of worldlings 
and Christians may be much alike, inwardly they differ 
like darkness and light. Everything depends on the 
motive of the heart. If that is without the fear and love 
of God, if that cares nothing for Christ and the love 
of Christ, its greatest sacrifices lack the one element 
which is able to lift them up into true Christlikeness. 
If the tree be a growth of the world, its fruit will be 
likewise; only when the tree is rooted and grounded 
in the faith and love of Christ, will its fruit have the 
heavenly flavor, the true Christlike quality. This is 
true of all the thoughts, words, and deeds of men, and 
therefore also of all the sacrifices which men make for 
their fellows. 

The wisdom of the world has ventured, in its folly, 
to belittle the sacrifice which Christ made, when He 
gave His life a ransom for many. It is claimed that 
God would not be dealing justly, if He would punish 
the innocent instead of the guilty; and again that 
God could have had no satisfaction or pleasure in the 
humiliation of His Son and. in His sacrifice of Himself 
for transgressors. Instead of Christ's being wounded 
for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, chas- 
tised for our guilt, we are told, He simply suffered in 
life and ended in death to seal His preaching and teach- 
ing by a martyr's blood. In other words, He sacri- 



He Giveth His Life. 343 

ficed Himself not for others, but only for Himself. He 
died not to ransom us from death, but to give His own 
life and work a fitting conclusion. At one stroke we 
are thus to be deprived of the most precious foundation 
of our faith, and of the loftiest and most valuable part 
of the example He has left us. But the whole argu- 
ment of unbelief, seeking to overthrow the very chief 
part of Christ's work, falls to pieces when tested by 
the Scriptures, and even when viewed in the light of 
reason. The attempt of Christ's foes is vain; their 
shafts leave unharmed Christ's mighty sacrifice for us 
to trust in, and for us to follow as an example. 

The question is not, "How can it be righteous to 
lay on one man the penalties of others ?" As an excel- 
lent teacher has well said, the question properly put is 
this, "How can it be righteous for one man to take upon 
himself the penalties of others?" "How many an act 
of heroic self-sacrifice, which it would be most unright- 
eous for others to demand from, or to force on, one 
reluctant, which indeed would cease to be heroism or 
sacrifice at all, unless wholly self-imposed, is yet most 
glorious when one has freely offered himself thereto; 
is only not righteous, because it is so> much better than 
righteous, because it moves in that higher region where 
law is no more known, but only known no more be- 
cause it has been transfigured into love." (Trench.) 
To brand Christ's free, voluntary, loving sacrifice of 
Himself for us, as a piece of unrighteousness on God's 
part, is to' destroy the admirable, noble character of all 
self-sacrifice, even of that which is undertaken from no 
love of Christ. No; it is noble even as men count no- 
bility, to suffer and die for others, — let the world praise 



344 His Footsteps. 

its heroes; and it is divinely noble, as God counts no- 
bility, to suffer and sacrifice self for others from love of 
Christ — and no man shall gainsay the praise of Christ, 
"Ye have done it unto me." 

Again, the question in regard to Christ's sacrifice is 
not, "Could God have pleasure in the sufferings of the 
innocent and the holy, and that innocent and holy His 
own Son?" Properly stated the question is this, 
"Should not God and the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ have pleasure in the faith, the love, the obedi- 
ence of His Son as manifested in that Son's perfect 
pattern of self-forgetting, self-offering love?" When 
Christ gave Himself for us, He caused God to exclaim, 
"This is my beloved Son. in whom I am well pleased." 
Unspeakable satisfaction filled the heart of the Father, 
when He beheld His Son doing the Father's will in 
absolute, perfect obedience even unto death. To 
brand the acceptance of this obedience as a piece of 
monstrous cruelty, is to rob all suffering borne will- 
ingly for others, and accepted as noble and praise- 
worthy the world over, of its noble and praiseworthy 
character. The pain may be bitter, but the love, the 
obedience, the sacrifice of self manifested in willingly 
bearing the pain is sweet. And when the love of God 
prompts us to sacrifice self in His service, this is a 
sweet-smelling savor unto God. 

In the offering which Christ made to God for us 
there is one element which we will never be able to 
copy as such. The Son of God gave His life as a ran- 
som for many; by His suffering and death He ren- 
dered complete atonement for the sins of the world; 
His sacrifice was the propitiation for our sins. Now 



He Giveth His Life. 345 

'there is no sacrifice which we are able to make, 
no offering we are able to bring which will have 
any atoning or propitiating power with God. We 
may indeed bear one another's burdens, and thus 
fulfill the law of Christ, but all our burden-bearing will 
never remove the least of our own or other men's 
sins. We may pay one another's debts before men, 
but never will any payment we make count in the 
least in decreasing our debt before God. It is per- 
fidious and false altogether, when men imagine that, 
because they suffer exceptionally here, their pains 
will, in a measure at least, atone for sins they have 
committed. Christ's own question, "What shall a 
man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matth. 16, 20) 
admits only of the answer, He has nothing absolutely 
nothing to give. Even when we have done and suf- 
fered all — made every possible sacrifice and ren- 
dered every possible offering — we must admit, "We 
are unprofitable servants; we have done that which 
was our duty to do." Luke 17, 10. Our hope and 
joy is solely in the atonement of Christ. To imagine 
the least bit of atonement in any suffering of our own 
would be a grave error, base dishonor to Christ, arro- 
gant presumption before God. Our best offerings 
are not without some stain of sin, and are therefore 
so far from making good any sin of our own that thev 
themselves have need of Christ's merit to make them 
truly acceptable to God. If then we would follow in 
the footsteps of Him who gave His life for us, we 
must forever put aside the thought of meriting any- 
thing before God by our own doing or suffering. We 



346 His Footsteps. 

are to bear the cross our Lord lays upon us only that 
we may praise His name and magnify His grace. 

It would certainly be wrong for us to suppose that 
to become truly Christlike we must copy His example 
outwardly. Christlikeness may or may not demand 
of us to die; may or may not require of us that we 
spend years in obscure poverty, or amid constant per- 
secution, or in the difficult labor of teaching and 
preaching. Sometimes God calls us to give up our 
lives in serving others. Stephen, Paul, most of the 
disciples were led to make such a sacrifice. But John 
was not, and yet his heart was filled with the same 
spirit as was that of Paul. The greatest of the apos- 
tles labored with his own hands and possessed little 
more than enough for his bodily wants. Others, 
however, had money and property and yet were 
Christlike in placing themselves and all their pos- 
sessions as an offering, holy and acceptable, at the 
Waster's feet. The outward will take care of itself, 
if only the inward be right. The king on his throne, 
the servant girl at her humble tasks, may both remain 
where they are, and yet follow Christ's footsteps in 
unselfish and self-sacrificing love. "Let this mind be 
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" — "Who for 
the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, 
despising the shame." Let each remain where God 
has placed him. In his own station he will be able 
to follow Paul's bidding: "I beseech you therefore, 
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your 
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, 
which is your reasonable service." 



He Giveth His Life. 347 

Then do we follow the footsteps of Him who was 
sacrificed for us, when we put all thoughts of great- 
ness, wealth, and pleasure for self away, and fill our 
hearts with love for Christ and our fellowmen. "Look 
not every man on his own things, but every man also 
on the things of others." "Be ye therefore followers 
of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ 
also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an 
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling 
savor." Christ Himself declares: "Whosoever will 
come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his 
cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his 
life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for 
my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." 
To deny ourselves and take up our cross does not 
mean to load ourselves down with self-imposed pri- 
vations and self-appointed tasks. Christ's bidding 
and example does not in the least inculcate the self- 
righteous regulations of the Romish orders. To 
deny self is to say nay to the flesh, to all the evil de- 
sires of the old Adam; to deny self is to place Christ 
within that He may reign where hitherto the sinful 
self reigned. Crucify the flesh ; drown the old Adam ; 
live henceforth not unto self, but unto Christ who 
died for you. This is the living sacrifice required of 
Christ's followers. 

To the world this may appear like losing life, like 
casting away all that is sweet, desirable, and precious 
in this life. The world understands only the things 
that are earthly, it knows as little of the beauty and 
excellence of the tilings that are spiritual and heav- 
enly, as the blind man knows of the sunshine and the 



348 His Footsteps. 

beauty it reveals in bloom and verdure. To lose life 
in denial of self and in sacrifice for Christ is in reality 
to find life, the true life, full of real, exalted, abiding 
blessedness. Christ lost His life in sacrificing it in 
love for the Father and for us sinners; but where in 
all the wide world is there a life so truly a life, so full 
of the highest, sweetest beauty as was Christ's life? 
To crucify the flesh is to set free the spirit; to slay 
selfishness is to enthrone love; to bid adieu to sin's 
pleasures is to welcome heavenly joys. The world 
and all it offers fades away like unsubstantial shadow. 
To lose this is no loss, but a gain, when we grasp in 
its stead the real substance which is found in Christ. 
Self-sacrifice, devoting all that we have and all that 
we are to Christ, is incalculable gain, joy, glory, bless- 
edness. Though it be in poverty, in privation, in suf- 
fering, in persecution, in death — if such be the Mas- 
ter's will — our lives, following Christ's in self-sacri- 
fice will shine with the beauty that makes His the 
fairest and greatest ever seen on earth. 

As Christ's sacrifice was made not merely in death, 
but also throughout all the days of His earthly life, 
in Xazareth as well as in Jerusalem, so our sacrifice 
is not to be restricted to some certain great deed at 
some supreme moment of life — which may not ar- 
rive at all — but to fill all our life. Day by day in all 
the little things of life our love for Christ, our denial 
of self is to appear. Mighty sacrifices in the great 
hours of life will never be made, as long as the little 
sacrifices day by day prove distasteful. We may ad- 
mire a martyr's death, we may wish to make a like 
trial of our faith. Rut let us beware lest we seek our 



He Giveth His Life. 349 

own exaltation and the praise of men. He that ex- 
alteth himself, even in making what appears to be a 
wonderful sacrifice, shall be abased. "Though I be- 
stow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give 
my body to be burned, and have not charity", seek- 
ing not the glory of Christ, but the praise of self, "it 
profiteth me nothing." True self-sacrifice contains 
true humility; and this humility is not eager for 
some supreme test, which shall draw the attention of 
men, but ever satisfied with the lowly path of love, 
marked perhaps by the eye of Christ alone. 

"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; 
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which 
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son 
of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

INTO THY HANDS. 

THE footsteps of tire Son of man, marking the 
path we are to follow, end at the threshhold of 
Paradise. As they pass beneath the shadow 
of death, the last stage is reached. It is appointed 
for man once to die and then the judgment. 

The death of Christ is infinitely more for us than 
an object lesson or mere example. It is the propitia- 
tion for our sins, the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of 
God for all the iniquity of the world, the crushing of 
the Serpent's head and power under the heel of the 
divine Victor, the opening of the gates of Paradise 
closed by Adam's disobedience. This precious doc- 
trine constitutes the very heart of the divine gospel. 
"He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." 
In this place, however, our task is not to hold up 
this treasure of Christian faith, but to view the death 
of Christ, and the things that are connected with it, 
in so far as they may serve for our example. Stephen, 
dying before the gates of the Holy City, commended 
his soul to the Father in heaven, even as Christ had 
yielded up His spirit into the hands of His Father. 
From the Son of man we learn both how to live while 
our earthlv life lasts, and how to die when death 




Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.— Luke 2j, 46. 



Into Thy Hands. 351 

Death, in reality, had no power over Christ and 
could never have forced Him to pass through its bit- 
ter pangs. "As the Father hath life in Himself, so 
He hath given the Son to have life in Himself." 
Christ declared: "I am the life"; the Scriptures call 
Him the Prince of life, even the true God and eternal 
life. There was no sin in Him, and the sting of 
death therefore had no power to touch Him. "No 
man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of my- 
self; I have power to lay it down, and I have power 
to take it again. This commandment have I received 
of my Father." The glory of heaven belonged to 
Him as in very truth His own; it would have been 
no robbery, but only a return to His own, if without 
death He had ascended on high and assumed the 
glory which for a little while made His face shine 
like the sun and His raiment glisten like light on the 
Mount of Transfiguration. But the very purpose of 
Christ's coming on earth in the form of man was that 
He might lay down His life. He who was far above 
death voluntarily entered death for us, that we who 
were bound by the hand of death might escape its 
power forever. 

The darkness of death thus cast its shadow over 
the whole earthly life of Christ. The picture of the 
boy Jesus, assisting Joseph in Nazareth by carrying 
certain carpenter's tools, and holding them uncon- 
sciously so that their shadow is cast in the form of a 
cross behind Him, portrays a solemn truth. The 
shadow was there indeed; Jesus was born that He 
might die. Peter's sword had to remain sheathed, 
the legions in the sky had to remain in the silent dis- 



352 His Footsteps. 

tance, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled that thus 
it should be. Simeon's allusion in the Temple, when 
he held the babe in his aged arms, gave prophetic ut- 
terance to one of the clear thoughts that afterwards 
filled the heart of Christ. His face was soon turned 
toward Jerusalem and the painful events that would 
end in His death. 

The words and actions of Christ furnish us ample 
testimony in this regard. Behind the temptations 
in the wilderness, so soon after the silent life of 
Nazareth, we find the thought of suffering and 
death. Christ could not be induced to follow any 
course save that of humiliation ending in the dark 
hours upon the cross. His first reply to the Jewish 
Temple authorities, after cleansing the sacred courts 
contains a reference to His death: "Destroy this 
temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The 
conversation with Nicodemus, following shortly after, 
repeats the same allusion: "As Moses lifted up the 
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of 
man be lifted up." To the disciples the Lord made 
a formal announcement of the dreadful events that 
were to come, and sought with patient reiterations to 
prepare them for the crisis. "From that time forth 
began Jesus to shew unto His disciples, how that He 
must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of 
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed." 
His discourses before the people and their leaders, 
likewise make frequent mention of His death. How 
soon the thought became familiar to Christ, we are 
unable to say. Rut we know that long before the 
hour drew nigh its coming was known to Him, and 



Into Thy Hands. 353 

He went forward willingly to meet it. His life was 
lived in the shadow of Golgotha. 

Christ, however, always looked beyond His death 
to the resurrection which would follow. The temple 
of His body, when destroyed, He would raise up in 
three days. The Son of man, when lifted up, would 
be lifted not only upon the cross to die, but into 
heaven, whence He had come. The sign of Jonah 
for the unbelieving Jews consisted of Christ's being 
in the heart of the earth only for the space of three 
days and three nights. He prophesied that the Jews 
would kill and crucify Him, but added in every in- 
stance what the disciples entirely failed to grasp, that 
He would arise from the tomb on the third day. In 
the mind of Christ His death and His resurrection 
were indissolubly joined. The resurrection changed 
what otherwise would have been a dire calamity, full 
of irreparable destruction and despair, into an all- 
decisive battle, fiery indeed and full of agony, yet for- 
ever glorious and victorious. Death might bear the 
semblance of defeat, the resurrection showed it to be 
an everlasting triumph. 

In the light of these statements we can indicate to 
some extent the influence which the approaching 
death of Christ exerted upon Him during life. That 
influence was not depressing; it had no shadow of 
discouragement in it; it caused no fluctuation what- 
ever in the lofty purpose of His life, in the divine as- 
surance and certainty which possessed His soul. 

A deep well-spring of joy flows through the life of 
the Son of man, and not even death could cloud the 
crystal waters. The parable of the good shepherd 



354 His Footsteps. 

seeking and finding His lost sheep and bearing it 
home with rejoicing, is certainly of significance here. 
Christ's seeking the lost in the days of His humilia- 
tion, ending in death, might be a task ever so difficult 
and painful, the joy of the finding and bearing home, 
the delight of certain and everlasting success, when 
now the completion of the task would come, cast its 
radiance far back over all the bitter labors that pre- 
ceded, and filled the days of Christ's humiliation with 
gladness. As Abraham rejoiced to see the day of 
Christ coming afar, so Christ Himself was filled with 
joy in the midst of His labors, seeing afar with unbe- 
clouded eyes, the fruits of His labors and passion, 
the multitudes coming from the east and the west, 
from the north and the south, and sitting down with 
Abraham in the eternal kingdom. 

"In that hour", we read, "Jesus rejoiced in spirit, 
and said: I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven 
and earth!" Who will describe the heavenly sweet- 
ness of this joy in the spirit? It must have been in 
the heart of Jesus at all times, even when the storms 
of opposition raged about Him, and the stroke of 
pain and sorrow unto death pierced His soul. For 
this joy had its source in the divine and infallible cer- 
tainty of success. It could perish only with the de- 
struction of this certainty. And even the agony in 
the garden and on the cross, when Christ felt Him- 
self forsaken of God, failed to touch that certainty. 
Death itself, with the pangs it held for the Son of man, 
was the divinely appointed means for accomplishing 
redemption, and filling all the hosts of heaven with 
the shouts of triumph. Death's darkness never hid 



Into Thy Ha?ids. 355 

from Christ's eyes this glorious import of His death, 
and therefore never robbed Him of a secret inward 
joy of the spirit. It was the will of His Father that 
He should thus die, and to do that will, however bit- 
ter the doing, was meat and drink to the Son of man. 
Obedience unto death might make the heart of Him, 
who was man as we are, quake and tremble with sor- 
row, there was ever in that obedience a sweet and 
heavenly flavor of satisfaction and joy. 

To suffer and die was painful in the extreme, but 
Christ's own words constantly remind us that He 
looked beyond the pain in contemplating death and 
kept His eyes fixed on the everlasting import of His 
death. As John the Baptist declared, He was the 
Lamb of God bearing away the sins of the world. 
Thus Christ said of Himself, that He would draw all 
men after Him, when now He should be lifted up. 
The very purpose for His being lifted up was "that 
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." In fact, all that Christ taught 
and preached concerning the entrance of men into 
His kingdom was based on His death as a part of the 
great work of redemption. 

The unbelieving Jews are told that they cannot fol- 
low Him when in a little while He will "go unto Him 
that sent Him"; He will go His way, they shall die 
in their sins, for whither He goes, they cannot come. 
When Christ uttered the parable of the good shep- 
herd and the hireling, He declared plainly: "The 
good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep", and "I 
am the good shepherd" *•»*•"! lay down my life 
for the sheep." In the distant future He beheld the 



356 His Footsteps. 

day when all the sheep should be gathered before 
their great shepherd. "Therefore doth my Father 
love me, because I lay down my life, that I might 
take it again." When Lazarus lay dead, Martha is 
comforted with the assurance: "I am the resurrec- 
tion and the life: he that believeth in me, though he 
were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth 
and believeth in me shall never die." Christ would 
Himself die, but it was well for the disciples that their 
Master should go away: for His death would be fol- 
lowed by the gift of the Spirit, His death and depart- 
ure into the glory which He had in the beginning was 
linked to the promise, that they should be where He 
would be. Christ's death and resurrection, assured 
them of life and resurrection, of joy in the day of 
judgment, of eternal glory among the hosts of heaven. 
In the very hour of death Christ promised the male- 
factor at His side, that they, dying together, would 
be together in Paradise. The seed, placed in the 
earth, would die indeed, but its death would send up 
a glorious growth and priceless fruit. These were 
the thoughts and words of Christ, shedding the lustre 
of heaven over all deatlf s bitterness. 

But however much this bitterness was counterbal- 
anced by the sweetness of the fruit that would follow, 
the bitterness itself was in no way removed. We 
catch only occasional glimpses of the pang that pierces 
Jesus' heart. The solemnity of His words when an- 
nouncing His death to the disciples, the fulness with 
which He states repeatedly what shall precede His 
actual decease, shows us sufficiently how deeply Christ 
was affected by this part of His humiliation. "The 



Into Thy Hands. 357 

Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, 
and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn Him 
to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles: and 
they shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him, and 
shall spit upon Him, and shall kill Him." The words 
are brief and yet they pile up a fearful load of suffering 
before the culmination of death is reached. Surely, 
the heart of Jesus was deeply stirred with sorrow 
when these words left His lips. 

As the end approached, this sorrow becomes more 
manifest. Standing in the temple, three days before 
His death, when certain Greeks desired to see Him, 
He spoke of the corn of wheat dying and thus bring- 
ing much fruit; yet the thought of the fruit growing 
from His death could not repress the utterance of 
deepest sorrow: "Now is my soul troubled; and 
what shall I say? Father save me from this hour." 
We know to what depths of woe this sorrow brought 
Jesus in Gethsemane, almost rending soul and body 
asunder. No man can describe what Jesus suffered 
when the angel came and strengthened Him. Death's 
approach had hardly a bitterness which Jesus did 
not taste. 

The same is true of the sufferings which finally 
caused His death. The record of the gospels is ex- 
ceedingly simple, containing little more than a bare 
account of what was inflicted upon the innocent Suf- 
ferer. Yet it takes little imagination to unroll before 
our eyes from the words of the sacred writers a picture 
of torture and agonizing pain of body and mind, such 
as the world has never seen. Men have indeed been 
crucified before and after; human cruelty has srone to 



358 His Footsteps. 

the verge of the possible in its infliction of suffering-, 
lacerating body and mind and gloating over its bloody 
work. And yet the sufferings preceding Christ's death 
exceed all that man has ever, or can ever, suffer on 
earth. Every blow that Jesus received hurt Him far 
more than it could possibly have hurt our callous 
nerves and blunted sensibilities. The bitter sting that 
pierced His susceptible heart most deeply was the con- 
sciousness that all these sufferings were the deserts 
of sin. "The chastisement of our guilt was upon Him." 
He who knew no sin was made sin for us; He who 
utterly abhorred sin was Himself loaded down with the 
complete curse of the entire world's sin. In the very 
sufferings of Christ, as inflicted upon Him from the 
treachery of Judas on till the last mockery on the cross, 
we see a frightful host of sins and crimes pouring their 
bitterness and gall upon His innocent head. There 
is more than enough to make our hearts recoil, but 
there is much more behind the veil, known only to 
God. 

Christ approached death and stepped into its very 
jaws, holding fast His Father's hand. The last hours 
of His life show us more prayers than any others. 
He prays for His disciples, and for all who shall be- 
lieve their word after His death, for Himself, for His 
murderers, and He ends in death commending His 
Spirit into the Father's hands. He refuses the stupe- 
fying drink offered Him before He is nailed fast to 
the cross; He asks to have His burning thirst 
quenched, that He may rally the last vestiges of 
strength for the cry of triumph and the prayer of 
death. "It is finished!" rings out victoriously from 



Into Thy Hands. 359 

the bloodless lips of the dying Savior. Death and the 
enmity of treachery that brought it about have not 
marred the work Christ set Himself to perform, but 
only helped to crown it by bringing it nearer to com- 
pletion. 

Thus did the Son of man at last bow His head in 
death; such was the end of the "dying of the Lord 
Jesus." 

His dead body was laid in the silent tomb, while 
His Spirit rested in the Father's hands, and the prom- 
ise was fulfilled, that the dying malefactor should be 
with Him in Paradise. The light of Scripture grows 
dim as the shadow of death is passed. We know 
enough, however, when we are told, "God hath highly 
exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above 
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
and things under the earth; and that every tongue 
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory 
of God the Father." Phil. 2, 9-11. The battle was 
fought, the spoils of victory won, the never-ending 
triumph begun. "Thanks be to God, which giveth us 
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 
15, 51. 

We are to follow the footsteps of Christ even into 
the glory of Paradise. 

Unlike the Son of God we are all by nature subject 
to death because of our sin. "As by one man sin 
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death 
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." And 
this "death" which has passed upon all men is not only 
the dissolution of soul and body, which we commonly 



360 His Footsteps. 

call death; it is far more, the entire sum of Qvil re- 
sulting- from sin, especially also the eternal separation 
of soul and body from God the divine source of life 
and light. Of this death Christ tasted, when He gave 
His life for our ransom, and with St. Paul we say that 
we too, who are Christ's followers, have tasted this 
death. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were bap- 
tized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?" 
Again, "We have been planted together in the likeness 
of His death," — "We be dead with Christ." — "Reckon 
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin." We, 
who were subject to death because of sin, have become 
like Him, who was not subject to death because He 
was the sinless Son of God and the Prince of life. When 
He in infinite love permitted death to lay its hand upon 
Him, we who are His own died with Him; His death 
is our death. 

If this death had been permittted to strike us directly 
with all its power, we would have been plunged into 
eternal destruction. But now that Christ became our 
brother and substitute, now that He went forward with 
us to face this death, and we have died with Him, the 
power of death is broken in striking Christ. "Know- 
ing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no 
more: death hath no more dominion over Him. For 
in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He 
liveth, He liveth unto God." God's Son could not 
remain in death; the grave and hell could not hold 
fast the Prince of life. Entering death He destroyed 
death. Where we, if we had been alone, would have 
lain in death forever, Tic, our innocent, divine Head, 
was raised up by the glory of the Father, And thus 



Into Thy Hands. 361 

we who are made partakers of His death, are now also 
partakers of His life. "For if we have been planted 
together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also 
in the likeness of His resurrection." Christ's atone- 
ment is our atonement. The "likeness of His resur- 
rection" is that now we are "alive unto God through 
Jesus Christ our Lord." Death reigns through sin, 
but we who are Christ's "are freed from sin"; there- 
fore "sin shall not have dominion over you," and we 
may sing triumphantly with Paul: "O death, where 
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The 
sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory- 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Behold the multitude of Christ's followers, He lead- 
ing the van in facing death. He opens His arms and 
receives the fiery shafts all into His own breast. There 
they are quenched forever, none may touch the souls 
of those who follow Him. On through death, on over 
all death's broken powers He leads them into life. 
Death is passed: Christ lives, and all His followers 
share His life — He in them, and they in Him. This 
victory over death, this entrance into life through 
Jesus Christ is the essential thing, when we wish to 
speak of following Christ's footsteps into the light of 
Paradise. 

The shadow of death falling upon Christ as He 
passed from the manger to the grave, was dispelled by 
the glory of the resurrection. His entrance into the 
glory which He had with the Father from the begin- 
ning, was for Him before it took place as certain as if 
it had already taken place. For us who are Christ's 



362 His Footsteps. 

followers the shadow of eternal death is likewise dis- 
pelled by the light of life which is ours in Christ, and 
b*y the beams of the heavenly glory awaiting us with 
Christ above. We are already passed from death into 
life. Therefore the same joy that filled Christ's heart 
because of the absolute certainty of the glorious con- 
summation of His work, must now illumine our hearts 
because of our actual entrance upon everlasting life 
in Christ. As Christ was glad, beholding all the fruits 
of His life and death, so we must be glad, possessing 
the abundance of these fruits now, and going forward 
unto a constant increase of their riches. 

Because the victory is ours through our Lord Jesus 
Christ, there is nothing left of death's power to oppress, 
harm, or frighten us. As Christ, with His eyes fixed 
on the day of His resurrection and on the hand of His 
Father in heaven, passed calmly through the storms 
and persecutions that raged about Him, wrought un- 
disturbed the labors that were appointed for Him, so 
Ave, keeping our eyes fixed on Christ's death and res- 
urrection, and holding fast the precious life which now 
is ours, are to be untroubled by the storms that toss us 
about in this present time, and are to work on with 
Christ's guidance and support in the labors set before 
us. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stead- 
fast, un moveable, always abounding in the work of 
the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is 
not in vain in the Lord." "In all these things we are 
more than conquerors through Him that loved us." 
Christ could not fail; holding the hand of Christ we 
too cannot fail. 



Into Thy Hands. 363 

We do not forget or underestimate the severity and 
bitterness of the many tribulations through which we 
must pass here. The Scriptures constantly remind us 
of the sufferings of this present time. Among them we 
must count temporal death and the things which bring 
it about. The shadow of manifold afflictions and of 
our approaching dissolution is ever about us. As the 
heart of Christ was pierced again and again, as His 
body too received cruel wounds, so our hearts are 
pierced, our bodies are wounded. As Christ felt every 
pang inflicted upon Him, so we too feel every pain. 
Aside from the horrors that entered into Christ's death 
inasmuch as it was the punishment for the world's 
sin, the rending in itself of His soul and body was some- 
thing bitter and awful for Him. Likewise, we, though 
made partakers of eternal life, cannot find death pleas- 
ant and the corruption of the grave delightful. Never- 
theless, all these shadows, dark though they be, cannot 
dismay or overwhelm us ; there is ever the light shin- 
ing bright and clear: "We know that all things must 
work together for good to them that love God." Even 
temporal death, as it was made a servant of Christ in 
working out our redemption, so it is made a servant 
of Christ's followers, leading them unto glorification. 

Some shrink from the burdens we must bear in 
Christ's footsteps while our earthly life lasts. When 
sorely pressed, they would hasten the hour of their 
departure. There is a disgust with the evils and la- 
bors of this life, even among Christ's followers, which 
is not Christlike. He did not murmur and complain. 
He worked in patience while it was day. Paul, too, 
would like to have laid the life in the flesh aside and 



364 His Footsteps. 

robed himself in garments of glory. "For we know- 
that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- 
solved, we have a building of God, a house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we 
groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our 
house which is from heaven." Yet he confesses: "I 
am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, 
and to be with Christ, which is far better: nevertheless 
to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And 
having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and 
Continue with you all for your. furtherance and joy of 
faith." 

As some long with a morbid desire for death, so 
others fear and shrink from death and manifest a mor- 
bid attachment for this earthly life. The wings of their 
hope are weak, the eyes of their faith dim. To be with 
Christ is better, Paul tells us. When the hour came, 
Christ hesitated not, nor fled, but gave Himself to die. 
They are truly Christlike who are ready to wait in un- 
complaining patience till the Master calls, and who 
live in constant preparation and readiness, joyfully 
looking forward for the call. If the choice were 
offered us, we might prefer instead of death to be 
caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, as 
they shall be who will be found alive at the end of the 
world. But who can show that their lot is really 
preferable to that of those who die? 

Death comes in many forms, some of them exceed- 
ingly terrible. We may not choose the manner in 
which we shall die, yet we may pray, certain of being 
heard, as the Church has prayed for ages: 



Into Thy Hands. 365 

" Holy and gracious God ! 
Holy and mighty God ! 
Holy and all-merciful Savior! 
Thou eternal God ! 
Save us, Lord from sinking 
In the deep and bitter flood. 
Kyrie eleison." 

Whatever manner of death comes to Christ's follow- 
ers, is allotted to them by His merciful hand. He 
knows what we are able to bear, and will stand by us 
to fight the last fight and grasp the crown of deathless 
joy. 

Death will ever have its mysteries for Christ's fol- 
lowers. There are many questions which remain un- 
answered, until we ourselves close our eyes for the 
last long sleep. Curious minds run into all sorts of 
speculations, instead of abiding humbly by the Word. 
Surely, it is enough to know that Christ will be with us 
as we pass through the valley of the shadow of death, 
comforting us with His rod and staff; that the angels 
shall bear us aloft into Abraham's bosom, there to be 
comforted;- that at once we shall be with Christ in 
Paradise. Nothing shall disturb those who> rest in 
God, or limit their joy, when they enter where tears 
and sorrow and death and every shadow of evil shall 
forever remain afar. Faith asks no more than the ful- 
fillment for itself of Christ's dying prayer: "Father, 
into Thy hands I commend my spirit." 



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